Poverty line to be adjusted

from The New Straits Times

The national poverty line will be adjusted, taking into account current inflation rate.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz said this was because the national poverty line currently in use had not taken into account the knock-on effect of the recent oil price increase.

“The government is aware of the effects of inflation and price hike of goods on household expenditure. The poverty line will be updated from time to time, taking into account the current inflation,” he said in reply to Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak) in the Dewan Rakyat here today.

Abdul Khalid had asked whether the government was aware that the national poverty line currently in use was too low and illogical to fend for a family, and asked the government to give the percentage of poor households in each state if the minimum monthly household income were to be raised to RM1,500.

Currently, the national poverty line is based on the minimum monthly household income of RM753. It is defined as the income that enables a household to meet its basic needs in terms of food and not food that enables each member to function in society.
Amirsham said if the national poverty line was raised to RM1,500 as proposed by Abdul Khalid, poor households would make up about 24.3 percent of the total number of households.

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