PETALING JAYA: The government will adopt household net disposable income metrics to ensure better delivery of its socio-economic policies, says Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
He said the change will be made in phases and involve his ministry, among other government agencies.
“There were many discussions about the economic classification of B40, M40 and T20.
"However, these brackets don’t reflect the actual (economic capability) of a household.
“There are other variables involved such as number of children and location,” he told a press conference on Friday (May 19).
Rafizi also said the transition to the new approach will be strengthened through the introduction of Malaysia’s main database, or Pangkalan Data Utama (Padu), which was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim recently.
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“With Padu, the data will be focused on the net disposable income (per household).
“Once we get to that level, we will have a clearer picture of comparable net disposable income (among) households and that will allow the government to define our programmes and target subsidies accordingly,” Rafizi added.
The minister also revealed that the government plans for Padu and the new approach to be live by January.
He said over 200 data sources have been compiled, including the Federal and state governments and zakat bodies.
“What we want to do now is to transition to a more real-time system. Once we have that, if there are any changes in other government agencies, the data (in Padu) will reflect it," he added.
On Monday (May 15), Anwar had said that the Statistics Department will be responsible for collecting all the necessary information for the database.
This includes the number of households, household income, location, number of vehicles owned, record of assistance received from government departments, and other information to determine the disposable income of eligible households.
