Economist lauds government’s move to narrow income gap
KUALA LUMPUR: Narrowing the income gap to ensure the wellbeing of the people while sustaining Malaysia’s economic growth is the right step forward.
Economist Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid said a country’s economy could not rebound from a crisis if there were imbalances and large gaps between the rich and the poor.
“The government’s move to narrow the income and wealth gaps is the right step forward,” he said at the “End Poverty Day 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle” forum, here, on Friday.
He was referring to Khazanah Research
Institute’s “The State of Households 2018” report, which said the gap in real mean income between the higher income households, defined as the Top-20 households, and the Medium-40 and Bottom-40 (B40) households in Malaysia had doubled in 2016 compared to during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis.
The government is focusing on enhancing the education system and raising wages as part of efforts to narrow the wealth gap.
The half-day forum was jointly organised by the World Bank and the United Nations, supported by Yayasan Sejahtera.
The World Bank also launched its latest “Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report 2018” report.
On the proposal to reduce the widening income gap, he said the proposal should be undertaken holistically.
Meanwhile, World Bank representative to Malaysia Dr Firas Raad said the country must do more to enhance access to electricity, clean water, education and healthcare despite the improving poverty rate.
Firas said the World Bank would continue to help Malaysia narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.
Meanwhile, assistant resident representative of the UN Development Programme for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, Asfaazam Kasbani, welcomed the government’s move to develop special programmes for the indigenous people in Sabah and Sarawak, as well as selected communities to enhance their economic potential.
He said it was important to give constant attention to the B40 to ensure that appropriate policies, programmes and action plans were implemented to raise the group to the next level.
“The UN will continue to work with the Malaysian government in providing the necessary support,” he said.