NextGen Day

🚀 MANILA – The Philippines is making significant strides towards becoming an upper middle-income country by 2025, according to National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan on Wednesday.

“We are on track, and the upper middle-income country status will be achieved in 2025 based on our estimates given current assumptions on our growth prospects for 2023 and 2024. [I’m] hoping that we don’t have any major disasters or external factors that will hit us again,” Balisacan said during a briefing.

As per the World Bank’s data, the Philippines is currently classified as a lower middle-income country with a gross national income per capita of USD3,950 as of 2022.

“The threshold [for] joining the upper middle-income class is something like USD4,500 or something close to that,” Balisacan explained.

He acknowledged that the Philippines “should have been by now actually an upper middle-income class if not for the sharp contraction of the economy in 2020.”

The strict quarantine measures imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) caused the Philippine economy to contract by more than 9 percent in 2020.

“We lost three years due to the contraction,” Balisacan said.

Despite the setback, Balisacan expressed optimism about the country’s growth prospects.

He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the 6 to 7 percent economic growth target for this year, stating that the economy should grow by at least 5.9 percent in the next three quarters to achieve the lower end of this target.

“So if we hit the lower end, I think that is still a remarkable performance, given that everywhere else is a downgrade, and the external environment has not much improved,” he added.

Meanwhile, Balisacan emphasized that the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) and the public-private partnership (PPP) will play vital roles in sustaining and completing the country’s development programs and projects during its transition to an upper middle-income country.

Once the country achieves an upper middle-income status, it will no longer be eligible for concessional loans like official development assistance (ODA).

Concessional loans offer low-interest rates and extended grace periods to countries below upper middle-income status.

“At this point, we are already preparing for that eventuality. One is getting the governance of PPP more robust so that we can have those key projects like infrastructure funded by PPP if we can’t fund them by ODA,” he added.

Balisacan also noted that the MIF initiative could be used to fund critical or social projects.

“But between the choice of remaining (in) a lower-income country and keeping your access to concessional loans, I would rather go for (an) upper middle-income country because that means a higher standard of living for all Filipinos, especially if it comes with the generation of high-quality jobs and poverty reduction,” he said. 🌟💹🇵🇭

Save/Share this story with QR CODE

---

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of any specific technologies or methodologies and financial advice or endorsement of any specific products or services.

📩 Need to get in touch?

📩 Feel free to Contact NextGenDay.com for comments, suggestions, reviews, or anything else.

---

We appreciate your reading. 😊Simple Ways To Say Thanks & Support Us:
1.) ❤️GIVE A TIP. Send a small donation thru Paypal😊❤️
Your DONATION will be used to fund and maintain NEXTGENDAY.com
Subscribers in the Philippines can make donations to mobile number 0917 906 3081, thru GCash.
3.) 🛒 BUY or SIGN UP to our AFFILIATE PARTNERS.
4.) 👍 Give this news article a THUMBS UP, and Leave a Comment (at Least Five Words).

---

AFFILIATE PARTNERS

World Class Nutritional Supplements - Buy Highest Quality Products, Purest Most Healthy Ingredients, Direct to your Door! Up to 90% OFF.
Join LiveGood Today - A company created to satisfy the world's most demanding leaders and entrepreneurs, with the best compensation plan today.

---