The Bureau of Customs (BoC) on Friday reported its highest recorded collection in September after it generating P59.9 billion in revenues as economic activity recovers amid the pandemic.
The bureau in a statement said it surpassed its P56.9 billion target by 5.3% or P3 billion.
The BoC’s September collection is 12% higher than the previous month and is 18% higher than the P50.75 billion collected in the same month a year earlier.
Customs data from the Bureau of the Treasury dates back to 1986.
The agency has been constantly beating its monthly collection targets since January.
Preliminary data showed that eight out of 17 collection districts exceeded their target for the month, or the ports of Limay, Manila, San Fernando, Zamboanga, Davao, Iloilo, Legaspi, and Clark.
In the first nine months, the bureau collected P472.204 billion, or 76.6% of the target collection of P616.749 billion for 2021.
“BOC’s positive revenue collection performance is attributed to the improved valuation and intensified collection efforts of all the ports, improvement of importation volume and the government’s effort in ensuring unhampered movement of goods domestically and internationally considering the pandemic situation,” the bureau said.
The BoC has a P671.7-billion collection target for 2022, or 9% higher than this year’s goal. — Jenina P. Ibañez