UPPER-MIDDLE income country status and a trillion-dollar economy will be more attainable if the government enhances the education system and creates more high-quality jobs, a Cabinet official said.

"Having more workers with college diplomas could fuel a transformative surge in productivity, innovation and economic growth — breaking the cycle of poverty in the country," Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said on Tuesday.

"It would be easier for us to achieve an upper-middle-income country status by 2025, become a trillion-dollar economy by 2033, and eventually be the 14th biggest economy in the world by 2075," he added.

The finance chief, however, emphasized that taking advantage of the current demographic opportunity would require improving the country's education system, creating new jobs and opening opportunities for everyone.

"It was my goal to ensure that every student who cannot make it to college on his own receives a helping hand from the government," Recto said.

"After all, building the country's talent pool is not the responsibility of families alone. The government has to be proactive and give its share," he added.

Recto argued that education must be a top priority for the government, emphasizing that it should be the last area to face budget cuts.

He stressed that a country's progress depended on the quality of its human capital, and education determines whether a nation prospers or remains poor.

According to the 2024 General Appropriations Act, education receives the largest budget allocation, totaling P969.0 billion, an 8.2-percent increase from 2023.

Of this amount, state universities and colleges received P132.9 billion, which includes P21.7 billion to provide free tertiary education for over 3.1 million students nationwide.

The finance chief emphasized that a college education was the best investment one could make, yielding a return of around 15 percent, or better than the interest given by banks and the yield of the stock market.

He also stated that his duty was to maximize every peso from the country's revenue to fund programs in health, education, roads and infrastructure, technology, and security and social protection — with education being the top priority.

Recto said that for this year, the Department of Finance needed to collect P11.7 billion and borrow about P4 billion daily to cover the government's average daily spending of P15.8 billion.

"So far, we are on track to meet our targets," Recto asserted.