Average Sabah household income up 29.4% – CM

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KOTA KINABALU: Comprehensive initiatives and inclusive socio-economic development programmes implemented in Sabah have resulted in a more equitable distribution of income among households, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

He attributed the improved wealth distribution largely to programmes aimed at assisting the poor and low income groups to generate higher earnings.

Among such programmes, he said, were the 1Azam, Agropolitan and Mini Estet Sejahtera development, livestock and commercial agricultural as well as micro-credit programmes.

“The Federal Government allocated RM24.8 billion under the Tenth Malaysia Plan for the implementation of development programmes that included the construction of basic rural infrastructure as well as education and housing assistance programmes under the national key result areas (NKRA) in Sabah.

“As a specific measure to help the poor and low income group, a total of RM293.5 million was allocated for the implementation of 1Azam under the NKRA Low Income Households,” he said to reporters at Wisma Innoprise when announcing the Preliminary Findings of the Household Income Survey (HIS) 2012 yesterday.

The survey was conducted by the Department of Statistic Malaysia by collecting data on the income distribution and socio-economic characteristics of income recipients as well as identifying poor and hard core poor households.

Musa, who is also Minister of Finance, said the average family income in Sabah also showed significant improvement with an increase of 29.4 per cent last year compared to that in 2009.

“The mean household income for Sabah in the year 2012 increased to RM4,013 per month compared to RM3,102 in 2009. It shows an increase of 29.4 per cent with an average growth rate of 8.6 per cent per annum,” he said.

Musa said the mean monthly household income in the urban areas remained higher than the state average at RM4,668 per month despite lower growth of only 22.7 percent compared to RM3,803 in 2009.

Meanwhile, in the rural areas the average income increased by 33.8 per cent from RM2,177 to RM2,913 per family per month, he added.

The overall poverty rate has also continued to decline, from 19.7 per cent in 2009 to 8.1 per cent in 2012, with the rural areas registering a huge drop from 32.8 per cent to 12.9 per cent in the same period.

For urban areas, the poverty rate was 5.3 per cent, a considerable improvement from 9.8 per cent.

“As of December 2012, Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) has provided a total of RM920.6 million to 60,766 recipients in Sabah for conducting micro-businesses.

“More importantly, the continuous effort by the government to improve basic infrastructures including road and potable water has helped to improve the quality of life in Sabah.

“The improved connectivity also contributed to the conducive environment for Sabahan to undertake their economic activity, hence the improved income and poverty reduction in Sabah,” said Musa.