Poor in a rich nation

BASED on Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM) recent Household Income and Basic Amenities Report 2019 released on July 10, Malaysia is defined as a nation that falls under the World Bank’s definition of an upper middle-income economy as our gross income per capita of RM45,131 is within the band of US$4,046 and US$12,535. On a per month basis, the gross income translates to about RM3,761.

Based on end-December 2019 exchange rate, the gross income is equivalent to about US$11,028, which is about 12% below the threshold that would place us in the “high-income economy” category. Incidentally, the exchange rate too has made us poor indirectly as Malaysia would have crossed the threshold of “high income economy” if our US$/ringgit exchange rate was at RM3.60 or better.