The Bureau of Customs said Monday import duty collections contracted P2.3 billion, or 0.6 percent in 2015 to P366.9 billion from P369.11 billion in 2014, on lower oil prices.
Preliminary data showed the 2015 actual collections were also P69.6 billion, or 15.9 percent, below the government’s target of P436.5 billion.
“It’s due to the decrease in total value of imports this year. Oil also decreased in volume and value,” an official of the Bureau of Customs said in a text message.
Data from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries showed the average price of crude oil dropped from $105.87 per barrel in 2013 to $96.29 per barrel in 2014 to $52 per barrel in 2015.
The Bureau of Customs also missed what Commissioner Alberto Lina described as the doable target of P400 billion for the year.
“I am okay with the P400 billion [collection], but if it will be higher than that, then, that would be better,” Lina said in an earlier interview.
Lina was appointed to head of the Bureau of Customs in April, following the resignation of former commissioner John Sevilla.
The bureau’s top performers in 2015 were Zamboanga, which topped the target collection by P175 million; Legaspi (P290 million) and Iloilo (P2.3 billion).
The lowest performers were Aparri, Limay and San Fernando, which fell short of their respective targets by P455 million, P23 billion and P835 million.
Data showed that in December alone, revenues collected by BoC reached P37.1 billion, 5.8 percent or P2.2 billion short of the P39.4-billion target for the month.
This was the tenth month the BoC missed its target collection. It only surpassed the monthly target in March and June.
Customs is the second largest revenue-collecting agency of the government, next to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
Government revenues in November climbed 12 percent year-on-year to P177.5 billion but fell 21 percent short of the P224.065-billion programmed collections for the month.
November collections brought the 11-month tally to P1.945 trillion, up by 12 percent from P1.735 trillion registered in the same period in 2014.
Collections also missed the P2.089-trillion goal for the 11-month period.