middle-income Phl to attain upper status by late 2025, says NEDA

The Philippines remains on track to achieving upper middle-income status by late next year after exceeding its gross national income (GNI) per capita target last year, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said.

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO

To enter upper middle-income status by late next year, NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters on the sidelines of the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Roadmap 2.0 and Center for AI Research last Wednesday that the country’s GNI per capita would need to grow by 6.7 percent from last year’s.

“The threshold is $4,500 (GNI per capita). You need to have that as the minimum to get into the club of upper middle-income countries. We are now (at) $4,230. So you only need 6.7 percent growth,” he said.

Data released by the World Bank earlier this week showed the Philippines remained a lower middle-income country with a GNI per capita of $4,230 in 2023, up from $3,950 in the previous year.