Dominguez sees lower Customs collections this month
Credit to Author: Mayvelin U. Caraballo, TMT| Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 17:34:47 +0000
FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd expects the Bureau of Customs’ (BoC) revenue collections to drop this month as the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak drags shipments from China, one of the Philippines’ major trading partners.
“Total shipments dropped, but the majority of the drop is from China,” Dominguez told reporters on Tuesday night when asked about the outbreak’s impact on the bureau’s performance.
BoC data provided by Dominguez revealed that the number of 20-foot equivalent units (TEU) or containers from China dropped by 62.15 percent to 11,050 from February 1 to 18 from 29,195 in the same period in 2019.
This brought the year-to-date tally of these TEUs to decrease by 14.36 percent to 77,878 from 90,936 year-on-year.
While the drop is “concerning,” the Finance chief is optimistic that shipments from other countries would offset the reduced Chinese imports.
“We believe that this slack will be taken up in other markets. We hope that this doesn’t last too long,” he said.
His remarks are consistent with a new report from Moody’s Analytics that warned of mounting economic damage amid the continued spread of the coronavirus, which first broke out in the city of Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province.
Covid-19 has killed more than 2,000 people — including one, a Chinese tourist, in the Philippines — and infected over 74,000 others as of Wednesday, as well as disrupted supply chains.
Moody’s economists said the spread of the virus had surpassed expectations and effectively shut down large parts of the Chinese economy.
“Given China’s central role in the global economy — it is the second largest economy in the world, accounting for 16 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) — the economic fallout is spreading quickly around the globe,” they added.
The economists believe the global economy would feel the ill effects of the East Asian country’s economic problems through three principal channels: Chinese tourism and business travel, manufacturing, and commodities.
Disruptions in global manufacturing alone would weaken Southeast Asia, according to them.
Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority urged the government to increase its efforts against downside risks brought by health- and climate-related hazards that can affect the trade sector.
It said the government needed to remain vigilant of the risks brought about by the onslaught of disasters in the Philippines and the Covid-19 outbreak. WITH A REPORT FROM AFP