CUSTOMS surpassed its collection target by P6.2 billion last year, but it is now feeling the impact of the global economic crunch as it likely missed its P18.7-billion target last month, sources said yesterday.

They say that is likely due to the sharp fall in world oil prices that peaked at $147 last July but retreated to about $40 now, depriving the agency of higher collections from the commodity.

Customs is tasked to collect P300.1 billion this year from its P254.5-billion target last year. But the Finance Department believes the agency could collect as much as P317 billion as a result of the weak peso, which means importers would pay more for their shipments.

Customs actually collected P260.7 billion in 2008, up 24.5 percent from 209.4 billion in 2007, and due mainly to the weaker peso and higher rice imports by the state-run National Food Authority, Commissioner Napoleon Morales said.

“The improved performance also came at a time when the global economy was being buffeted by crisis after crisis, with shutdowns of financial companies causing tremendous pressure on manufacturers and producers of basic commodities,” he said.

Earlier, Morales said the slackening economy would make it more difficult for his agency to meet the higher target set by the Finance Department.

The government’s economic managers have similarly scaled down their growth targets—to a range of 3.7 to 4.7 percent this year from 6.1 to 7.1 percent—as a result of the economic crisis.

They have also revised their assumptions on the peso’s exchange rate—to 45 to 48 against the dollar from 42 to 45—but lowered their oil price forecasts to P75 to $90 a barrel from $115 to $125 as a result of the commodity’s continuing fall in the world market. Lawrence Agcaoili