Stats Dept: Pandemic forced more households into poverty in 2020

The Star reported that since the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in March last year, the government has launched eight stimulus packages worth RM530bil to address the crisis. The latest package, Pemulih, is worth RM150bil and was unveiled on June 28, 2021, to further mitigate the economic impact caused by the pandemic.

KUALA LUMPUR: The on-going Covid-19 pandemic pushed more households in Malaysia into poverty last year with Sabah, Kelantan and Terengganu the most impacted in terms of absolute poverty as incomes shrunk due to pay cuts or job losses.

The Statistics Department said on Friday the number of poor households increased to 639,800 households in 2020 as compared to 405,400 households in 2019.