The Focus Group meeting today will discuss the income inequality issue to solicit inputs for consideration under Budget 2014, which will be tabled in Parliament on Oct 25.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said income inequality was an issue of great concern to the government and several initiatives have been taken to transform the nation into a high-income and developed economy by 2020.
"In the spirit of inclusiveness as stated under the New Economic Model, we will ensure that all the people will benefit from the nation's prosperity and development," he said in his opening remarks at the start of the meeting.
The series of Focus Group meetings is the Treasury's annual agenda to engage the relevant stakeholders -- public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations.
"We have witnessed in recent times how resentments and social unrest can be easily triggered in countries without inclusive growth and high youth unemployment.
The Focus Group meeting today will discuss the income inequality issue to solicit inputs for consideration under Budget 2014, which will be tabled in Parliament on Oct 25.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said income inequality was an issue of great concern to the government and several initiatives have been taken to transform the nation into a high-income and developed economy by 2020.
"In the spirit of inclusiveness as stated under the New Economic Model, we will ensure that all the people will benefit from the nation's prosperity and development," he said in his opening remarks at the start of the meeting.
The series of Focus Group meetings is the Treasury's annual agenda to engage the relevant stakeholders -- public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations.
"We have witnessed in recent times how resentments and social unrest can be easily triggered in countries without inclusive growth and high youth unemployment.
"This is why the government underscores the importance of unity, peace and harmony for economic activities to thrive so that every citizen and community can have the opportunities to contribute and share the fruit of development," Ahmad Husni said.
The Minister also said the average household income for Malaysians has increased from RM4,025 in 2009 to RM5,000 last year, reflecting an average annual growth of 7.2 per cent.
"Although this is an improvement, there are still gaps between income levels among ethnic groups, people in urban and rural areas.
"For instance, the urban-rural income gap widened from 1.8 in 2009 to 1.9 last year," he said.
He said based on the Gini Coefficient, an index that measures the degree of inequality in income distribution in a country, showed an improving trend in Malaysia where income fell from 0.441 in 2009 to 0.431 last year.
"However, Malaysia's Gini coefficient is still high compared with other countries such as Thailand at 0.4, Indonesia (0.37) and India (0.33).
"Despite the improvement, Malaysia's Gini index has remained stagnant at 0.4 since the late 1980s.
"Although the government has implemented various programmes to assist the disadvantages and help reduce income inequality, they believe much more can still be done," he added.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said income inequality was an issue of great concern to the government and several initiatives have been taken to transform the nation into a high-income and developed economy by 2020.
"In the spirit of inclusiveness as stated under the New Economic Model, we will ensure that all the people will benefit from the nation's prosperity and development," he said in his opening remarks at the start of the meeting.
The series of Focus Group meetings is the Treasury's annual agenda to engage the relevant stakeholders -- public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations.
"We have witnessed in recent times how resentments and social unrest can be easily triggered in countries without inclusive growth and high youth unemployment.
The Focus Group meeting today will discuss the income inequality issue to solicit inputs for consideration under Budget 2014, which will be tabled in Parliament on Oct 25.
Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said income inequality was an issue of great concern to the government and several initiatives have been taken to transform the nation into a high-income and developed economy by 2020.
"In the spirit of inclusiveness as stated under the New Economic Model, we will ensure that all the people will benefit from the nation's prosperity and development," he said in his opening remarks at the start of the meeting.
The series of Focus Group meetings is the Treasury's annual agenda to engage the relevant stakeholders -- public and private sectors as well as non-governmental organisations.
"We have witnessed in recent times how resentments and social unrest can be easily triggered in countries without inclusive growth and high youth unemployment.
"This is why the government underscores the importance of unity, peace and harmony for economic activities to thrive so that every citizen and community can have the opportunities to contribute and share the fruit of development," Ahmad Husni said.
The Minister also said the average household income for Malaysians has increased from RM4,025 in 2009 to RM5,000 last year, reflecting an average annual growth of 7.2 per cent.
"Although this is an improvement, there are still gaps between income levels among ethnic groups, people in urban and rural areas.
"For instance, the urban-rural income gap widened from 1.8 in 2009 to 1.9 last year," he said.
He said based on the Gini Coefficient, an index that measures the degree of inequality in income distribution in a country, showed an improving trend in Malaysia where income fell from 0.441 in 2009 to 0.431 last year.
"However, Malaysia's Gini coefficient is still high compared with other countries such as Thailand at 0.4, Indonesia (0.37) and India (0.33).
"Despite the improvement, Malaysia's Gini index has remained stagnant at 0.4 since the late 1980s.
"Although the government has implemented various programmes to assist the disadvantages and help reduce income inequality, they believe much more can still be done," he added.
