Philippines remains lower middle income country: World Bank
04 Jul 2023 04:36pm
Manila city Philippines - FILE PIX
According to a report released on Monday by the World Bank, the Philippines' GNI per capita increased by 11.3 per cent to US$3,950 in 2022, still within the multilateral lender's list of lower middle-income economies of US$1,136 to US$4,465 GNI per capita, reported Xinhua.
President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos has vowed to bring the Philippines to "upper-middle income status by 2024," while National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan set the agenda by 2025.
The Philippine economy is on the recovery track, with its gross domestic product accelerating from 5.6 per cent in 2021 to 7.6 per cent in 2022. The poverty rate declined from 23.5 per cent in 2015 to 18.1 per cent in 2021 despite the shocks by the COVID-19 pandemic and other global headwinds.
The World Bank said the economic dynamism in the Philippines, with increasing urbanisation, a growing middle class, and a large and young population, "is rooted in strong consumer demand supported by a vibrant labor market and robust remittances". - BERNAMA
