KUALA LUMPUR: Continued investment in public services and targeted assistance are important to improving household well-being while supporting Malaysia's economic growth, said Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).
KRI chairman Dr Nungsari Ahmad Radhi said the government has to strike a balance between sustaining economic growth, ensuring equitable distribution of its benefits and managing fiscal resources, particularly amid global uncertainties and geopolitical tensions.
"The challenge is not simply to sustain economic growth, but to build resilience amid these global uncertainties and geopolitical tensions while ensuring that the benefits of growth are broadly shared,” he said in a statement.
The statement was released in conjunction with KRI’s sixth edition of its flagship State of Households 2026 (SOH 2026) report, themed "From Income to Wellbeing”.
Nungsari said the government could consider optimising its expenditure composition to create more room for development spending while maintaining fiscal discipline.
"In light of fiscal constraints including those imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) on debts and deficits, the universal pump price subsidies may have to be traded off for more development expenditures,” he said.
The SOH 2026 report, prepared in collaboration with the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) using data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES), examines household income, consumption and access to public services across administrative districts in Malaysia. - Bernama
