For the Philippines, entry into the World Bank’s upper-middle-income club is both a vindication and a warning.
The good
After decades in the lower-middle-income category, the country has at last crossed the line. The achievement is real. So is its modesty.
The World Bank’s latest income classification puts the threshold for upper-middle-income status at $4,636 in gross national income per person. The Philippines made it with $4,850—comfortably over the line, but not by much. It remains behind Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam; Singapore, as ever, belongs to another category altogether.
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