Revenue collections at the Division of Customs fell for the fifth straight month in March, albeit by a mere .31 percent compared to February\u2019s collection figures.<\/p>\n
Records obtained from the division showed that total collections for March amounted to $3.96 million\u2014slightly lower than February\u2019s $3.98 million, or a difference of just $12,277.<\/p>\n
The drop, however, is more dramatic when compared to the same period in Fiscal Year 2001. Compared to March 2001\u2019s $5.06-million collection, last month\u2019s revenue represent a steep 22-percent dive.<\/p>\n
The declining trend in the monthly customs revenue collections continues a gently descending pattern that began in November last year, when collections last increased from $4.35 million in October to $4.44 million the next month. <\/p>\n
Since then, customs collections have dropped, with the reductions ranging from 2 percent to as much as 4.4 percent. However, the March decline may yet signal a slow rebound in the economy, considering that, at .31 percent, it is the smallest drop in revenue collections on a month-to-month basis.<\/p>\n
On a quarterly basis, the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2002 covering the period from January to March 2002 ended with an 8-percent decline when compared to the first quarter earnings of the division.<\/p>\n
From October to December 2001, the division raked in a total of $13.13 million, or a difference of $1.05 million compared to the January-March 2002 earnings of $12.07 million.<\/p>\n
It is, however, in fiscal year comparisons that the drop in customs earnings show significant changes, whether on a month-to-month basis or year-to-year.<\/p>\n
The biggest decline was posted in January this year, which, at $4.14 million, showed a 27-percent plunge when compared to the $5.64 million in January last year.<\/p>\n
The other biggest drop was in October 2001 immediately after the 9-11 crisis, which saw October 2000\u2019s $5.82 million drop to $4.35 million, representing a 25-percent fall.<\/p>\n
The first quarter collections of Fiscal Year 2002 covering the period from October to December 2001, which amounted to $13.12 million, took a beating when compared to the $16.09 million collected in the first quarter collections for Fiscal Year 2001. The difference is equivalent to an 18-percent decline that set the stage for the ensuing fall in the second quarter collections.<\/p>\n
From January to March last year, the division collected a total of $15.52 million. This year, the same period gave the division only $12.07 million, or a 22-percent fall.<\/p>\n
Division officials expressed hopes, though, that next month\u2019s collections would improve on this month\u2019s figures, particularly with the recent upswing in tourism activities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Revenue collections at the Division of Customs fell for the fifth straight month in March, albeit by a mere .31 percent compared to February\u2019s collection figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}