Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 15): Malaysian households with income below RM2,000 spent 94.8% of their income in 2016 on consumption items and everyday essentials, according to Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).

What is worrying is for these households, their income remaining after accounting for inflation was only RM76 in 2016, down from RM124 in 2014, according to  KRI’s latest report on The State of Households 2018 titled Different Realities released today.

“This highlights households earning below RM2,000 are potentially very vulnerable to any economic shocks or emergencies,” the report said.

This is in contrast to households earning above RM15,000 who had RM13,100 remaining in 2016, decreasing from RM14,458 in 2014.

Households earning around the median household income had RM1,811 remaining in 2016, a reduction from RM1,990 in 2014.

The third instalment of the KRI report released today, stated that the share of household expenditure per household income has increased for all income levels from 2014 to 2016.

“In 2016, households with incomes below RM2,000 spent 94.8% of their income on consumption items listed in the household expenditure survey, increasing from 91.9% of their income in 2014.

“Conversely, households earning above RM15,000 monthly income only spent 45% of their income in 2016, increasing from 41.9% of their income,” the report stated.

KRI said the median household income in 2016 was RM5,228 per month, and correspondingly above 67% of it was spent on household expenditure, up from 65.1% in 2014.

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