KUALA LUMPUR: Performance Management and Delivery Unit
(Pemandu) is poised in its effort to steer Malaysia in becoming more
competitive as a high-income nation status.
There must be a fixed target as we set our sights on
achieving the high-income nation status, said Pemandu in a statement today. The
current high-income target is determined by the World Bank, which classifies
all countries with a GNI per capita of above a certain fixed threshold as
"high-income". The standard currency used by World Bank to measure high-income
threshold is in US$.
By 2020 the value of this threshold is projected by
Pemandu to be US$15,000. This is derived
by using the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the historical high-income
threshold by World Bank, for which the GNI per capita of high-income for 2020
is computed to be US$15,000.
This was stated from the beginning and throughout
Pemandu’s implementation of various initiatives.
Lack
of equality in income distribution
We understand that the goal to high-income nation status
is not all about income. “Inclusiveness” in our wealth creation journey is
equally crucial, ensuring that a per capita income of US$15,000 by 2020 include
as many people as possible in that process.
1. GDPI (GDP by income) for Malaysia
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s
Gross Domestic Product Income Approach 2010-2015, Malaysia GDP by income growth
has been progressing well.
Based on the 1.15 billion in GDP by income, 34.8% is
contributed by wages and salaries, followed by 60.5% by business profits and
4.7% by taxes and subsidies.
2. Equality in income distribution
As indicated in the Tenth Malaysia Plan, 2011 – 2015,
Malaysia’s overall income distribution has improved steadily, with the average
monthly household income of the bottom 40% households income group (B4
households) increased from RM1,440 in 2009 to RM2,537 in 2014.
Furthermore, our Gini coefficient has reduced from 0.441
in 2009 to 0.401 in 2014, exceeding the 2015 target of 0.420, thanks to the
slew of activities implemented:
https://www.pemandu.gov.my/transformation-unplugged-its-not-all-about-the-income.
The gap is expected to be further narrowed to 0.385 in
2020 according to the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, 2016 – 2020.
Malaysia’s journey to high-income nation status
As highlighted in our recent reports, our most recent GNI
saw us recording US$10,750 per capita. This signifies that that we are only 15%
away from the high-income economy benchmark.
Substantial efforts have also been put in to ensure our
growth is sustainable, with the country pursuing a mildly expansionary economy
with private investment leading the way and, by implementing robust fiscal
consolidation measures.
We have made a lot of progress to-date and we firmly
believe that Malaysia is on the right track to achieving the high-income nation
status.