PH can still reach high-income goal–Balisacan
Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan expressed confidence that the Philippines’ high-income goal for 2040 remains within reach. This, even as the country posted its most disappointing growth in 16 years.
Balisacan said in a press briefing on Thursday that while there were setbacks such as the pandemic and other developments that “sidestepped” the country, the average growth rate is still close to 6 percent.
The Philippine economy slumped to 3 percent in the fourth quarter, dragging the full-year average to 4.4 percent. This was well below the government’s 5.5 to 6.5 percent target and marking the third consecutive year that growth fell short of goals.
”We must keep on driving for high growth. The investments that we are making in human capital, particularly education and health and infrastructure, can elevate that potential to an even higher one, 6.5 or even 7 percent,” he said.
Currently, the Philippines is classified as a lower-middle-income economy, narrowly missing the World Bank’s gross national income (GNI) per capita threshold for upper-middle-income status by $26. The Philippines posted a GNI per capita of $4,470, just below the $4,496 cutoff.
The World Bank will update income classifications on July 1, but formal reclassification requires a country’s GNI per capita to exceed the benchmark for three consecutive years. This means the Philippines could officially attain UMIC status only by 2028, even if it surpasses the cutoff this year.
For 2025, state statisticians said the GNI per capita now stands at P282,780 or roughly $4,800.
