THE government will review all income group categories based on the findings of the Income, Expenditure and Basic Facilities Survey 2022 during its midterm study of the 12th Malaysia Plan, due to begin in the middle of this month.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economy) Mustapa Mohamed said an analysis of the survey’s data will be carried out early next year and is expected to be completed by the end of March.

The review will cover changes in the structure of incomes and expenses, cost of living, demographics, and the location of households.

“The new household income categories will strengthen policy formulation and improve services to the targeted groups,” he added in response to Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-PH) who asked how the groups had changed over the past four years.

“The Department of Statistics Malaysia is currently implementing the survey which involves 92,000 households from January to December 2022,” he said, adding that it was important to get a fuller sampling to study income patterns.

“The latest income data is based on the 2019 survey, whereby the B40 household is one that made less than RM4,850 a month, while the M40 household made between RM4,850 and RM10,959 while the T20 group made RM10,960 and above,” he said. – Bernama, October 3, 2022.