Poverty reduction plan should be more ambitious, says economist

Free Malaysia Today

Muhammed Abdul Khalid says the 13MP target of lowering the absolute poverty rate from 5.8% to 4.7% is not in line with the ambition to make Malaysia a high-income nation.  Read More: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2025/08/20/poverty-reduction-plan-should-be-more-ambitious-says-economist  Laporan Lanjut: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/tempatan/2025/08/20/tambah-aspirasi-basmi-miskin-tegar-kata-ahli-ekonomi  Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5 Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download FMT News App: Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46 App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP  #FMTNews #AnwarIbrahim #MuhammedAbdulKhalid #13thMalaysiaPlan

Transcript

00:00A targeted reduction of only 1.1% in the incidence of absolute poverty in the country shows a

00:06lack of ambition in the 13th Malaysia Plan, according to an economist.

00:11For Mohammed Abdul Khalid, the objective to bring the rate down from 5.8% currently to

00:174.7% over the next five years was in sharp contrast to the government's objective to

00:22make Malaysia a high-income nation.

00:25When tabling the 13 MP for debate at the Day One Rakyat on July 31, Prime Minister Anwar

00:30Ibrahim had said that the target was to also eradicate hardcore poverty, which now stands

00:36at 0.19% of all households.

00:39Mohammed, who served as Dr. Mahathir Mohammed's economic advisor during the latter second stint

00:44as Prime Minister, also took issue with the 15 billion ringgit increase in development

00:49expenditure to 430 billion ringgit compared with the 12 MP.

00:54He said that the extra 3 billion ringgit a year was insufficient and that more must be

00:58spent on healthcare, education and housing.

01:01Another shortcoming, he added, is Anwar's decision to ignore PRIMA, the previous government's

01:06affordable housing program, despite pledging to build a million affordable homes from 2026

01:11to 2035.

01:13He said another flaw in the 13 MP is its low target for narrowing the income gap, describing

01:18the government's target of narrowing the rich-poor gap by only 1% over 5 years as extremely modest.

01:25Dan is Roger Rizza.

01:27FMT.

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