Towards an equitable society

11th Malaysia Plan will include strategies to improve wellbeing of B40 households

THE 11th Malaysia Plan will include strategies that will improve the wellbeing of the bottom 40% households income group (B40 households).

The monthly income of B40 households had increased to RM2,537 in 2014 from RM1,440 in 2009.

Uplifting the B40 households will be a game changer for Malaysia as upskilling and providing job opportunities to the 2.7 million B40 households, will reduce inequality passed on to future generations.

The targets include doubling the mean income of B40 households to RM5,270 in 2020 (from RM2,537 in 2014). The size of middle-class society will grow to 45% by 2020.

More B40 households will have family members with tertiary education, from 9% in 2014 to 20% in 2020. The income share of the B40 to national household income will also increase from 16.5% in 2014 to 20% in 2020.

Measures will include narrowing the gap in post-secondary educational achievement.

Employers will be incentivised to encourage their employees to pursue higher education and skill levels.

Meanwhile, incentives such as soft loan facilities will be provided to employees to further their studies.

Entrepreneur development organisations such as SME Corp Malaysia, SME Bank, and Malaysian Technology Development Corp will continue to provide entrepreneurial training relevant to market needs.

Special interest rate loans, with a 10-year moratorium on sale of the property, will be provided to B40 households for affordable homes.

Affordable housing schemes by Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia and Syarikat Perumahan Negara Bhd will be continued.

Also, income inequality is expected to improve further with the Gini coefficient reducing from 0.401 in 2014 to 0.385 in 2020.

This will be achieved by prioritising five focus areas, namely uplifting B40 households towards a middle-class society, empowering communities for a productive and prosperous society, transforming rural areas to uplift wellbeing of rural communities, accelerating regional growth for better geographic balance, and enhancing Bumiputra Economic Community opportunities to increase wealth ownership.