MANILA — Malacañang on Monday lauded the increase in revenue collections of three government agencies namely the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and the Bureau of Treasury for the period of January to May.
“Tumaas po ang koleksiyon ng ating BIR, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of Treasury sa unang limang buwan ng taong ito (Our collections in the BIR, BOC, and BOT have increased in the first five months),” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a Palace briefing.
According to Roque, the BIR reported revenue collections of PHP827.9 billion which is up by 14.76 percent or PHP106.5 billion better than the same period in 2017.
The Bureau of Customs collected PHP229 billion as of end of May, up by 31 percent or PHP54.3 billion more compared to the same period last year.
Finally, the Bureau of Treasury collected PHP56.58 billion, up by 18 percent compared to last year.
Roque said these collections will be used to finance the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program.
Meanwhile, Roque also hailed the rise in revenues collected from electronic exports to Japan, United States, Hong Kong, China, and Singapore.
Citing data from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Roque said that there has been a 5.4 percent growth in the country’s electronic exports for the first three months of the year amounting to PHP8.69 billion compared to PHP8.24 billion in the same period last year.
Roque also welcomed the Technological Readiness Ranking published by the Economist Intelligence Unit which showed that the Philippines ranked 55th spot out of 82 economies in being tech-ready.
“Ang ibig pong sabihin nito eh handa po ang bansa natin para sa mga pagbabago dulot po ng teknolohiya sang-ayon po sa mga kategoryang (So this means that our country is ready for the changes brought by technology according to the categories) access to the internet, digital economy infrastructure and openness to innovation,” Roque said. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
