BOC exceeds February ‘23 collection goal by P1.188B

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has surpassed its revenue target for February amid sustained collection efficiency efforts.

Citing its preliminary report, the BOC said it collected P63.015 billion last month, exceeding its collection target of P61.827

Fuel prices decrease with global demand uncertainty

Oil prices decreased on Thursday due to global demand uncertainty and inflationary concerns.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at USD84.13 per barrel at 09.48 a.m. local time (0648 GMT), down 0.21 percent from the closing price of USD84.31 a barrel in the previous trading session.

At the same time, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at USD77.48 per barrel, a 0.27 percent fall after the previous session closed at USD77.69 a barrel.

billion by P1.88 billion.

The Customs’ February revenue performance also surpassed the P59.433 billion collected in the same month last year by P3.583 billion.

Year-to-date, the BOC said its total revenues amounted to P133.380 billion, up by P8.641 bil- lion from its target of P124.738 billion for the first two months of 2023.

“We will continue to innovate and implement sustainable reforms to boost the Bureau’s collection efficiency, which will contribute to the expansion and recovery of our national economy,” said Customs Commis- sioner Bienvenido Rubio.

“For this to be possible, we will also prioritize fostering a healthier trade environment through enhanced and modernized mechanisms for efficient trade facilitation and improved Customs operations for all our stakeholders,” added Rubio.

Given the uncertainty surrounding the continuation of central banks imposing interest rate increases, global recession concerns linger alongside the resurgence of inflationary concerns.

With expectations that the European Central Bank will continue to raise interest rates in 2024, the possibility of the US Federal Reserve raising rates again in July gained traction.

US commercial crude oil inventories rose by 1.2 million barrels to 480.2 million barrels during the week ending Feb. 24, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday.

This inventory increase exceeded market expectations of a 440,000-barrel increase and marked the tenth week of inventory increases, indicating a drop in demand and pushing prices lower.

Russia to lower output in retaliation to EU price cap

The EU ban on Russian seaborne oil products, as well as a price cap of USD100 per barrel on premium Russian oil products such as diesel, and a price cap of USD45 per barrel on discounted products such as fuel oil, went into effect on Feb. 5.

Nearly a month into the ban, Russia will now start to enact plans to cut crude oil production by 500,000 barrels per day.

Russian Deputy Prime