KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): As Malaysia strives towards developed and high-income status, economists and analysts said what is more important is to keep economic growth sustainable and reduce income gap.
The Edge Malaysia business and investment weekly in its latest January 1 – 7, 2018 issue quoted Bank Negara Malaysia monetary policy committee member Dr Yeah Kim Leng as saying the longer-term challenge is to grow faster so that Malaysia can catch up with other high-income nations while keeping ahead of new graduates. Yeah said Malaysia’s challenge includes intensifying efort to further reduce poverty and income inequality.
“Having high income is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition to be considered a developed nation. There has been notable progress in poverty reduction and the narrowing of income inequality between the ethnic groups since the launch of Vision 2020, but the pace has stagnated in recent years.
“The persistence of income inequality, especially in each ethnic group and in Sabah and Sarawak, suggests the trickle-down effects have not percolated to the low-income group, which remains relatively large,” said Yeah, who is also a senior fellow at Sunway University, Malaysia’s Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development.
For a better understanding on experts’ opinion on Malaysia’s economic, political and social aspirations, kindly pick up and read the latest issue of The Edge.
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