During his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Monday outlined his economic objectives. He aimed to end his term with a single-digit poverty rate and reduce the size of the government’s debt to below 60% of the economy.

The Duterte administration aimed to reduce poverty to 15.5 percent to 17.5 percent by the end of its term, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused 3.9 million Filipinos to fall into poverty as a result of strict lockdowns that halted economic activity, according to Marcos, who stated that one of his administration’s measurable medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal aims included taking down poverty to a “9% or single-digit poverty rate by 2028.”

The poverty rate was 23.7 percent as of the first half of 2021, up from the 21.1 percent noted in such a time of 2018.

The debt-to-gross domestic product (D2P) ratio for the nation will be less than 60% by 2025, according to the president.