The Department of Finance’s refined Medium-Term Fiscal Program aims to hit the country’s annual revenue targets to “reduce deficit and debt gradually in a realistic manner, while creating more jobs, increasing people’s incomes, and decreasing poverty in the process.”

This was assured by Finance Secretary Ralph Recto, sharing a copy of the DOF’s 2025 proposed budget with Senate reporters on Tuesday. Recto emphasized the agency’s priority to become a “steward of nation's fiscal stability.”

Recto also touted improving the Philippine economy where more investors are becoming interested in putting up business in the country.

He then cited the Japan-based credit watcher Rating and Investment Information Inc. (R&I), which had recently upgraded its rating in the Philippines. 

“Our fiscal discipline already earned us a credit rating upgrade of A minus from R&I — the first under the Marcos Jr. administration,” he said.

The R&I upgraded the Philippines' foreign currency issuer rating to "A-" with a stable outlook. 

An “A” rating indicates that the country has “high creditworthiness supported by a few excellent factors.” 

While the minus or “-“ indicates the relative standing within the rating category.

“At ang upgrade na ito ay upgrade rin sa buhay ng mga Pilipino (This upgrade will also upgrade the lives of Filipinos),” he said, expressing confidence that it would also improve the country’s investments and businesses. 

“And this will not be our last upgrade as long as we stick to our Medium-Term Fiscal Program. As this is our blueprint for the road to more As in the near future,” Recto further assured.

In addition, Recto reported that the unemployment rate in the country has been logged to its lowest level at 3.1 percent. 

“Our efforts have led to a stronger labor force, a growing middle class, and more comfortable lives for Filipinos,” he stressed. 

According to Recto, more than 50.3 million Filipinos are employed, with 63.8 percent of the figure working in the formal sector. 

He also touted the poverty rate had declined to 15.5 percent.

“We are on our way to reducing the poverty rate to just 9 percent by 2028,” he said.

Recto said the Philippines is “on track” to meeting its fiscal program for this year, citing the robust performances of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of the Treasury, and several Government-Owned or -Controlled Corporations. 

He shared that the country has logged P2.61 trillion in revenue collection for the first seven months of 2024—14.8 percent higher than last year.

Of which, tax collections from the BIR and BOC grew by 11 percent, reaching 2.24 trillion pesos.

The non-tax revenues, on the other hand, recorded a 44.5 percent growth, totaling P368.80 billion. 

The dividends from GOCCs contributed much to this increase, he noted.

“This strong revenue performance placed us among Asia’s top revenue-to-GDP ratios at 17.1 percent for the first half of the year. And this is above our full-year target of 16.1 percent,” he said.