MALAYSIANS are not saving enough, with total household savings amounting to just 0.9%, or RM6 billion, of overall household income, reported The Edge.

The report quoted the Statistics Department’s chief statistician, Mohd Uzir Mahidin, as saying yesterday the amount was meagre compared with total household savings of RM638.8 billion in 2014.

Uzir, at the unveiling of a new tool called the Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) to show patterns in disposable income and consumption, said households were spending the most on domestic commodities, which accounted for 83.3%, or RM532.2 billion, in 2014.

Young people were also spending before income was earned, “like buying cars and smartphones through credit”, he said.

“This is opposed to how the older generation manage their financials, where they delay their consumption to make way for savings.”

The findings conform to those presented in Khazanah Research Institute’s State of Households II report released last year, which showed that Malaysia had one of the lowest savings rates in the world.

The household savings rate averaged at 1.6% between 2006 and 2013.

“There is no comparable figure now for all the data shown in SAM, as this is the first time we are releasing this info to the public,” said Uzir.

Household income, meanwhile, stood at RM638.8 billion in 2014.

Of the total, 72.3%, or RM461.6 billion, came from remuneration (salaries) and unincorporated business profits. – November 21, 2017.