The Bureau of Customs expects to achieve the collection target of P499 billion in 2016, despite the low oil prices, the agency’s top official said Tuesday evening.
Customs commissioner Alberto Lina said the agency would adjust some mechanisms to compensate for the drop in oil prices in the international market.
Oil prices last week plummeted to less than $30 a barrel as the expected increase in Iranian crude exports added to the oversupply concerns.
“[The targets are] should always be achievable. You can not put target that is too low,” Lina said at the sidelines of the annual bankers night at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Lina said the bureau had included in its calculation that impact of low oil prices in the world market, which was expected to reduce collections of duties on oil and oil-related products.
Oil-related products account for about 40 percent of the total customs revenues.
Lina said the agency would update the valuations table together with the improvement of technology in the bureau.
He said the bureau would employ additional analytics and would require importers and shippers to submit in advance cargo documents to give more time for the analysis.
“We will advance the submission of the documents so we can have more time for analysis,” he said.
Lina said the agency would also strengthen the campaign against smuggling as another measure to cushion the impact of steep drop in oil prices.
Customs collections hit P366.9 billion in 2015, falling 16 percent short of target revenues for the full year.
Preliminary data of the agency showed full-year 2015 collections were also 0.6 percent or P2.3 billion lower than P369.11 billion collected in 2014.
The 2015 collections missed by 15.9 percent the agency’s original target of P436.5 billion for the year.