PH achieves 2024 nat'l income goal

As widely expected, the Philippines remained classified as a lower-middle-income country (LMIC) after narrowly missing the lowered threshold to achieve upper-middle-income country (UMIC) status, based on the World Bank's latest country income classification.

- BY BEN ARNOLD DE VERA

The latest data released by the Washington-based multilateral lender on Tuesday, July 1, showed that the Philippines was still a lower-middle-income economy—belonging to the group whose gross national income (GNI) per capita ranged between $1,136 and $4,495 in 2024.

The Philippines' GNI per capita in 2024 reached a new record high of $4,470, but it fell short of the revised upper-middle-income economy threshold, now set at $4,496 to $13,935 for the World Bank's new fiscal year (FY) 2026.

The country's GNI per capita last year was nonetheless within the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028's goal of $4,454-$4,592 for 2024.

The government targets to gradually increase annual GNI per capita to $4,814–$4,920 in 2025, $5,256–$5,563 in 2026, $5,645–$6,056 by 2027, and $6,044–$6,571 by 2028, under PDP 2023-2028, which serves as the Marcos administration's medium-term socioeconomic blueprint.

Using its Atlas method to compute GNI per capita as the basis of its country classification by income, the World Bank adjusted the LMIC and UMIC thresholds downward for FY 2026, which runs from July 1 this year to June 30 next year.

In the previous FY 2025 covering the period July 2024 to June 2025, lower-middle-income economies—where the Philippines belonged since at least 1989—had GNI per capita ranging between $1,146 and $4,515 in 2023, while upper-middle-income economies included those with $4,516 to $14,005.