20% of M40 households now under B40, says Guan Eng

 

Lim Guan Eng said Muhyiddin Yassin must take full responsibility for the failed policies that have destroyed the lives and livelihood of so many Malaysians.

PETALING JAYA: About 20% of households in the M40 group have moved down to the B40 category and the Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government must take the blame for this, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today.

Citing the “economic ruin” revealed in the latest Household Income Estimates and Incidence of Poverty 2020 Report by the Statistics Department, the former finance minister said it was all due to the government’s failed policies in battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

“About 20% of households from the M40 group with income between RM4,850 and RM10,959 have moved to the B40 group.

“Households in the T20 group have also been affected, with 12.8% of the T20 now shifted to the M40 group,” he said in a statement today.

Lim added that the report revealed that the number of poor households increased to 639,800 last year, up from 405,400 in 2019.

“The incidence of absolute poverty has also increased, from 5.6% in 2019 to 8.4% in 2020,” he said, adding that the incidence of hardcore poverty is estimated to increase from 0.4% (2019) involving 27,200 households to 1% involving 78,000 households.

“The depressing figures show that the government’s Covid-19 policies have failed. And yet Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wants to continue to deceive the public that he has a plan to revive the economy when nothing has worked over the past 18 months.”

Lim, who is Bagan MP, said this crisis has been exacerbated by Muhyiddin’s claim to the King that he still commands support from a majority of MPs, when it is clear that there are at least 13 Umno MPs who have withdrawn support from him.

“This failed PN government must be removed for failing to handle the Covid-19 and economic crises. The prime minister is wrong for saying that a change of government at this juncture could do more harm to the nation.

“Despite an Emergency and the serial movement control order(MCO), the pandemic has deteriorated alarmingly with daily infections hitting a record 20,889 cases on Aug 6 and a record 257 deaths on Aug 4.”

Lim said with a cumulative 1,224,595 cases and a total death toll of 10,177 up to now. Muhyiddin must bear full responsibility for the failure that has destroyed the lives and livelihood of so many Malaysians. - FMT