President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has set more ambitious economic goals than his predecessor, including targets to reduce poverty to single digits and achieve upper middle-income status by the end of his term.

At a press conference in Malacaang on Wednesday at noon, Benjamin Diokno, whom Marcos hired from the central bank to lead the Department of Finance, stated that the current administration hopes to achieve a GDP of 6.5-7.5 percent this year. This, however, was lower than the 7-8 percent set in the previous meeting of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers.

However, Diokno stated that the government expects annual growth to range between 6.5-8 percent from 2023 to the end of Marcos’ term in 2028, which is higher than Duterte’s goal of 6-7 percent growth.

Diokno confirmed in a Viber message that the figures he cited at the Palace press conference had been approved by the inter-agency Development and Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), which will meet on Friday to present the new administration’s economic targets and assumptions that will guide policymakers.

Diokno said, “We’re ambitious, especially since many reforms will be passed then,”

At the same time, the Marcos administration hopes to reduce poverty to 9% by 2028. The previous administration aimed to reduce poverty to 14 percent by 2022, but the pandemic has wiped out previous gains.

Diokno stated that Marcos wants the Philippines to achieve upper-middle income status by 2028, which means that the government will be “shooting” $4,046 per capita income for Filipinos by the end of his term.