KUALA LUMPUR: The 2016 Report of Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia had debunked the popular notion that income increment in Malaysia did not match the rising price of goods and services.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan quoting the report said the median monthly household income for Malaysian’s increased to RM5,228 in 2016 as opposed to RM4,585 in 2014, with growth rate of 6.6 per cent per annum at nominal value.
He said this had proved that income in Malaysia is not stagnant.
According to Rahman, in terms of real value, median monthly household income grew at 4.4 per cent, which means Malaysian household income grew faster than the inflation rate of 2.1 per cent for the past two years.
“The overall incidence of poverty had improved from 0.6 per cent in 2014 to 0.4 per cent in 2016. In 2009 poverty incidence was at 3.8 per cent.
“The Economic Transformation Program – the brainchild of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak – kicked off in 2010 had come to fruition as more people escaped the poverty trap since 2009.”
He adds that the incidence of poverty in all states had declined, most significant being the state of Sabah which saw it decrease from a rate of 4.0 per cent in 2014 to 2.9 per cent in 2016.
“This serves as epitome of success reflective of the unshakeable commitment and efforts by both the state government under the Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman and the federal government.
“The strength of their close relationship had delivered positive results for the people of Sabah.
“By the same token, there are some quarters who would be quick to point that Sabah had the highest poverty rate in Malaysia and subsequently blame the government.
“But if they diligently weigh the economic structure of Sabah, they would have a better understanding as to why Sabah has higher poverty rate as opposed to other states.”
Rahman pointed out that the agriculture sector constituted 27 per cent of Sabah economy – the highest in Malaysia; manufacturing sector only contributed 8.3 per cent to Sabah economy – relatively lower compared to other states; mining sector, mainly oil and gas, is not as huge as some people had thought.
Sabah’s mining sector is only 62 per cent of Sarawak’s size in the same sector.
Rahman also explained that Sabah was almost neglected in terms of infrastructure and development for more than two decades under the longest-serving Prime Minister, hence Sabah’s slower growth.
“It is only under the tenure of the current Prime Minister the development of Sabah was made priority.
“The Malaysian household income distribution had also shown considerable improvement. The Gini coefficient that measures inequality of distribution has declined to 0.399 from 0.401 (2014).
“Evidently, this shows that income inequality between households in Malaysia had progressively decreased as the median income of the bottom 40 per cent (B40) grew from RM2,629 (2014) to RM3,000 (2016).
“This is a growth rate of 6.6 per cent annually – faster than the top 20 per cent (T20) household income growth of 6.2 per cent while the middle 40 per cent (M40) recorded the highest growth of 6.9 per cent per annum.”
He noted that the report summarises the accomplishments achieved by the Barisan Nasional-led (BN) government in terms of economic prowess.
“It also nipped the perception that Malaysia’s impressive GDP growth in recent years has not benefited the people.”