THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) remains optimistic about meeting its 2024 revenue goal, its top official said, despite falling short as of end-September.

"The BoC will actively work and implement strategic measures to boost revenue collection, including the collection of non-traditional revenues such as post-entry audit and auction," Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said in a statement on Sunday.

"These efforts are aimed at not only recovering lost revenues but also positioning the bureau for sustainable financial growth in the future," he added.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto last Friday told The Manila Times that the BoC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) — the government's main tax-collecting agencies — were both unlikely to hit their 2024 goals.

"Both may miss their target, but we will still achieve our revenue target from non tax revenue," he said.

The BIR has yet to respond to requests for comment.

BoC collections from January to September totaled P690.842 billion based on preliminary data. While 4.61 percent higher compared to the P660.388 billion collected a year earlier, it was short of the target of P693.888 billion.

Rubio attributed the shortfall to recent policy changes, particularly Executive Order (EO) 62, that, among others, slashed the tariff on rice imports to 15 percent from 35 percent, resulting in a revenue loss of P6.089 billion.

EO 62 also expanded zero-import duties to battery electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in HEVs, and certain parts and components, leading to an additional loss of P2.901 billion.

The government is targeting to collect P4.3 trillion in revenues for 2024, with the BIR tasked to collect P3.05 trillion and Customs around P1 trillion.

Despite these challenges, Rubio said the BoC's "commitment to transparency and efficiency in customs operations empowers us to build a stronger economy for all Filipinos."

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman, who chairs the interagency Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) that sets the government's macroeconomic goals, told reporters Friday that revenue collection targets could be changed in line with a possible hiking of medium-term economic growth goals.

Pangandaman, who earlier last week said that the DBCC could conduct an off-cycle review given improvements to the inflation outlook, said that when they "do our DBCC meeting, we look at the short and medium term [targets]."

The gross domestic product growth goal for 2024 currently stands at 6.0-7.0 percent. As of end-June, growth was at the lower end of the range, and economic managers have expressed confidence that the full-year result will not fall below 6.0 percent.

After a below-target 5.8 percent in the first quarter, economic growth picked up to 6.3 percent in April-June on the back of higher government consumption.

The 2025 target, meanwhile, was also narrowed to 6.5-7.5 percent in April from 6.5-8.0 percent previously, and that for 2026 was retained at 6.5-8.0 percent.