THE Marcos Jr. administration is prioritizing job creation to ensure economic growth translates into higher incomes as it targets upper middle-income status by 2026, Finance Secretary Frederick Go said.
In a press chat on Thursday, Go said the government’s strategy centers on economic growth, and this must translate into more jobs that allow more Filipinos to benefit from higher incomes.
‘Our strategy is to grow the economy and make sure that no one is left behind. Then when you hurdle that rate, you become an upper middle income economy,’ Go said.
The Philippines remains within the lower-middle-income bracket-defined by the World Bank as economies with a gross national income (GNI) per capita between $1,136 and $4,495.
The country’s GNI per capita rose to $4,470 in 2024, a 5.67-percent increase from $4,230 in 2023. The upper middle income country GNI per capita starts at $4,486.
This made the Philippines miss achieving the upper-middle- income country (UMIC) status in 2025 by a mere $26.
Go said the government remains committed to achieving UMIC status in 2026, noting that the economic team should ‘stick to that’ timeline.
The new Finance chief acknowledged that foreign exchange movements pose a challenge to the country’s bid, as income classification is denominated in dollars.
‘One of the problems is, it’s defined in dollars. So even if we grow in pesos, if the foreign exchange rate works against us, that’s the problem,’ Go said.
Despite this, Go said the Philippines is already close to reaching upper middle-income status and expressed optimism that continued economic expansion would help the country meet the required income level.
‘I am hopeful,’ Go said. ‘Because I believe our economy will grow.’
According to World Bank, if the Philippine economy can grow by 6.8 percent annually for the next 25 years, it may finally end its extended stay as a middle income country
The World Bank said enhancing investments in infrastructure and human capital; improving regulations and governance; and mobilizing private capital will provide a 1.4 percentage point boost to GDP growth to 6.8 percent annually from the current 5.4 percent.
Raising productivity through investments in infrastructure and human capital would add 0.78 percentage points to annual GDP growth, while efforts to deepen capital markets would add another 0.45-percentage points to growth; and those that would increase labor force participation would lead to a 0.18-percentage boost to GDP.