KUALA LUMPUR – The Economic Outlook conducted by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) found that the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted all households in Malaysia, regardless if they are from the B40, M40 or T20 group.
According to the ministry, Household Income Estimates and Incidence of Poverty Report, Malaysia 2020 (2021), 12.8 percent of T20 households and 20 percent of the M40 households have dropped to the lower-income category.
According to the report, data showed that around 600,000 until 1 million M40 households have shifted to the B40 group due to lay-offs and salary cuts.
If compared to the B40 group specifically, the M10 group or the lowest 10 percentile of the middle-income households received the worst impact throughout the pandemic following their high financial commitment and expenses.
Meanwhile, the MOF Economic Outlook also found that despite the various assistance and stimulus packages had successfully managed to reduce unemployment to below five percent, long-term Covid-19 pandemic concerns linger on the livelihood of the people.
The Department of Statistics reported that the income per capita in 2020 has reduced by 6.5 percent to RM43,475 compared to RM46,450 in 2019.
At the same time, the average wages and salaries had sunk nine percent, from RM3,224 in 2019 to RM2,933 in 2020.
Therefore, most of the M40 households are now listed under the B40 category.
The number of unemployment has also risen to 39.9 percent, from 508,200 individuals in 2019 to 711,000 in 2020. -MalaysiaGazette
Read More:
Fair and effective taxation system to optimise revenue
Budget 2022: Between hope and reality
