Customs fails to meet 2014 annual revenue goal

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippines collected P369.31 billion ($8.39 billion) of revenues in 2014, P38.78 billion below its target for the year, said the Bureau of Customs (BOC) today.

However, the figure registered a 21.1 percent increase compared to that of 2013, according to BOC.

"The ports of Batangas, Iloilo, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Subic and Aparri exceeded their collection target for the year 2014," the BOC said.

John Philip Sevilla, Customs Commissioner, said the declining oil prices had an impact on the BOC's collections in the second half of 2014.

Meanwhile, the BOC posted revenues of 38.14 billion pesos for December 2014, 19.3 percent higher than the target. It is also higher by 60.3 percent compared with the same period last year.

"Cash collections, which net out importations that are booked as Tax Expenditure Funds, or non-cash collections recorded on paper for government transactions, grew by 14 percent despite the decline in the value of crude and petroleum products," the BOC said.

The government has set a 456.47-billion-pesos target of revenue collection in 2015.