Tweak poverty measurement method, says PM’s economic adviser
Economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid has commended the Pakatan Harapan government’s multi-dimensional method in measuring poverty, but proposed additional tweaks in order to better reflect ground realities.
In particular, he said that the Economic Affairs Ministry (MEA) should review education and health indicators.
“Credit to the MEA, they are trying to use a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) ... but they must tweak the MPI,” he said during the discussion of “Strategies to Leave No One Behind” at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit in Kuala Lumpur today.
The economic adviser to the prime minister suggested that education indicators categorise those with less than 11 years of education as poor, rather than the current measure of six years...
Economist Muhammed Abdul Khalid (above, right) has commended the Pakatan Harapan government’s multi-dimensional method in measuring poverty, but proposed additional tweaks in order to better reflect ground realities.
In particular, he said that the Economic Affairs Ministry (MEA) should review education and health indicators.
“Credit to the MEA, they are trying to use a Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) ... but they must tweak the MPI,” he said during the discussion of “Strategies to Leave No One Behind” at the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit in Kuala Lumpur today.
The economic adviser to the prime minister suggested that education indicators categorise those with less than 11 years of education as poor, rather than the current measure of six years.
For health, Muhammed stressed that malnutrition among children should be taken into account when measuring poverty.
He pointed to a World Bank statistic that found one in five Malaysian children to be stunted.
“Globally, the level of stunting has been declining, but domestically the level of stunting has been on the increase. It is (now) more than 20 percent. This should be a national crisis,” he remarked.
Aside from education and health factors, the MPI also takes into account income levels and the standard of living when measuring poverty.
No more beating around the bush
With these tweaks, the economist calculated that the absolute poverty rate in Malaysia to be 20 percent and said the present official 0.4 percent rate “did not make any sense”.
A consequence of this official reading was the decrease in social assistance over the years, he observed.
Thus, Muhammad stressed that a more honest assessment of poverty would better inform poverty eradication measures.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of that our poverty rate has increased. If we beat around the bush and are not realistic (and) not honest, we will not solve the problem.
“... The tweaking must be done,” he said.
Muhammed’s call echoes that of UN poverty expert Philip Alston (above), who previously disputed Malaysia’s 0.4 percent absolute poverty rate as a grave understatement of reality.
At the time, MEA minister Mohamed Azmin Ali had expressed his disappointment at Alston’s findings, and stood by the official figure.
Earlier today during the event, Azmin said the government had changed from using the Poverty Line Index to the MPI when asked if the ministry was reviewing the official poverty rate and poverty line.
“So this issue has been addressed and we certainly take into consideration this new approach to address poverty in Malaysia,” he said during a press conference.
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