Group with RM2,500 household income and below to get focus

The government will give serious focus to assist the targeted groups with RM2,500 household income and below which is the Bottom 40 (B40) group such as the Orang Asli community and settlers.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Mustapa Mohamed said before this, the target was only focused on the B40 group which only had one income group classification but now the group has been divided into four tiers with the lowest being the B10 category (hardcore poor).

“There used to be only the B40 group, but now there are four categories and the lowest in the group is B10 where their household income is only RM2,500 and below.

"So the government’s focus will be aimed at this group and with the accurate information, we will draw up strategies to help the targeted group,” he told reporters after the meeting the leaders and officers of Gugusan Felda Kemahang 2 in Tanah Merah, Kelantan today.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia yesterday reported Malaysia’s poverty line income (PLI) has been revised to RM2, 208 per month per household in 2019, compared to RM980 per month in 2016.

Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the median income grew moderately at 3.9 percent per year to RM5,873 in 2019, while the mean income increased by 4.2 percent per year to RM7,901.

According to Mustapa, rural poverty is higher than urban areas and there was also a higher incidence of poverty among Malays compared to Indian and Chinese as well as those in the interior of Sabah.

Elaborating further, Mustapa is confident that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has devised a better strategy to address the poverty line in the country.

He added that the government would not leave out the Orang Asli community which awaits for a more robust strategy to develop their economy and the matter would be refined under the 12th Malaysia Plan.

Meanwhile, Mustapa said he would meet the Felda special task force team this week in an effort to address various issues involving Felda.

“During the meeting, I will get a briefing on the proposals to strengthen Felda before tabling them to the prime minister in September. We want to see the new Felda model diversify the income of more than 110,000 families in all," he said. - Bernama