PUTRAJAYA: The rate of urban poverty in the country has increased from 3.9 per cent in 2019 to 4.5 per cent in 2022.
The 2022 Household Income and Expenditure Survey released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) revealed that the poverty incidence in rural areas, meanwhile, had dropped from 12.4 per cent to 12 per cent in the same period.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, while presenting the findings today, said the number of extreme poor households with income below RM1,198 had decreased to 0.2 per cent or 18,445 households, compared to 0.4 per cent in 2019.
He also said on average, households in Malaysia spending RM5,150 monthly in 2022, were up by 3.7 per cent per year for the period from 2019 to 2022.
"In addition to income received by households, part of this expenditure is financed by non-income receipts such as government assistance and special withdrawals of savings through the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF)."
Malaysian households, he said, spent mainly on four main expenditure groups, namely housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, making up 66.9 per cent of their allocated expenses.
Mohd Uzir said households also spent on food and non-alcoholic beverages (16.3 per cent), restaurants and hotels (16.1 per cent), and transportation (11.3 per cent).
"Spending on restaurants and hotels increased by 2.4 points from 13.7 per cent in 2019, in line with the increase in spending on eating out to 15.3 per cent from 11.2 per cent, and the decrease in eating at home to 16.3 per cent from 16.9 per cent.
"As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the composition of expenditure on health also increased by 0.6 percentage points in 2022 with part of it being expenditure on health goods such as face masks, disinfectant liquid and Covid-19 test kits."
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli who was also at the event said the survey provided a granular picture of the Malaysian households and their socio-economic status.
"The data from the HIES will determine how the government provides aid, and what kind of aid will give the most impact to households.
"We do not want to give the same aid to everyone, no longer giving cash aids like 'duit raya', no more. We want to make government aid more specific based on the behaviours of households."
He also said the ministry would present its progressive wage plans to the National Economic Action Council on Aug 7, and planned to table a white paper on the people's wages in Parliament in September.
"After taking into account the HIES findings, we see that it's not just the findings that are important, it is what the government does with these findings, and that is what we intend to do with wages.
"Of course employers will have their worries if the government forces (to implement progressive wages) as it will impact their cost, but I am confident that when we finalise the model and the concept, they will be happy, too.
"I am confident that it will be a very popular policy by the government for both the employers and their workers," he added.