KUALA LUMPUR: Per capita income will be used to determine households in the hardcore poverty category, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said this would give the authorities a more accurate picture than the previous methodology, which considered household income.
“We noticed some issues here (looking at household income).
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“If a household earns RM2,000 monthly but has four members, the (average) income is only RM500 (per person).
“So now, we are moving towards per capita income as it is more accurate and also takes into account the number of children and dependents,” he said during Prime Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 22).
Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff (PN-Rantau Panjang) had asked about government measures to end hardcore poverty and the mechanism used to determine the hardcore poor category.
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The Prime Minister stressed that there is no discrimination when it comes to eradicating hardcore poverty.
“When we work on eradicating poverty, we do not make distinctions according to race.
“It is not true that the help is only for the Malays.
“Those in the hardcore poor category, as long as they are Malaysian citizens, will receive assistance without discrimination,” he said in response to a supplementary question by S. Kesavan (PH-Sungai Siput).
