POVERTY remains a huge issue irrespective of whether the government is led by Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Harapan, said Anwar Ibrahim.

“There is stagnation for the past decade. It goes to show that the country has not prospered.

“To deal with the issue of shared prosperity, the country must remain prosperous,” the PKR president said during the Youth Economic Forum 2019 today.

Anwar said Putrajaya should be receptive to calls by experts to redefine national poverty levels and income brackets to tackle poverty effectively.

“We must accept the fact that the economy must remain our major focus.

“And we must do whatever it takes to ensure that we gain confidence in domestic investments and foreign direct investment to boost the economy.

“If we want to affect change we have to look at the situation (poverty) critically,” he said.

Anwar also said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad agreed that new yardsticks to determine an accurate national poverty rate should be introduced.

“We have a consensus is asking the government to put the poverty level at a higher rate because Dr Mahathir said he is willing to consider views on how to measure the poverty level,” the Port Dickson MP said.

Government think-tank Khazanah Research Institute said Putrajaya should introduce new income categories to effectively reduce income inequality and tackle poverty.

Putrajaya spent large amounts on poverty eradication programmes each year yet these yielded little results. – November 9, 2019.