GOVT TO CONTINUE ADDRESSING SOCIO-ECONOMIC DISPARITIES IN 11MP

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Bernama) – Socio-economic disparities among regions will be addressed in the remaining period of the 11th Malaysia Plan to achieve balanced regional development for the benefit of the people.

Efforts would be intensified to accelerate economic growth and address inter- and intra-regional imbalances, according to the Mid-Term Review of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) New Priorities and Emphases released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The report was presented by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Parliament today.

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The report said socio-economic disparities among regions and states continued to exist despite various efforts undertaken to narrow regional development gap.

“The uneven progress in Sabah, Eastern and Northern regions was illustrated by the relatively low gross domestic product (GDP) per capita as compared to the national average of RM38,915 in 2016,” it said.

The Sabah region recorded the lowest GDP per capita at RM22,098, the Eastern region (RM23,392) and the Northern region (RM29,725) in 2016.

Moreover, higher poverty incidences in the Sabah and Sarawak regions also reflected the socio-economic imbalances, the report said.

The report also said that although the absolute poverty rate in Sabah fell significantly to 2.9 per cent in 2016 from 19.7 per cent in 2009, it was still higher than the national average of 0.4 per cent.

At district level, there were even incidences of double-digit poverty rate in Sabah, such as in Tongod at 14.6 per cent and Beluran at 12.1 per cent, it said.

“As Malaysia strives to be an inclusive nation, balanced and sustainable development need to be promoted across regions.

“Based on regional contribution to the national economic growth, the growth rates of Sabah, Central and Southern regions were higher than that of national average of 5.1 per cent for the 2016-2017 period,” it said.

The Sabah region has shown a significant improvement in GDP growth to 6.4 per cent during the 2016-2017 period from 4.2 per cent in the Tenth Malaysia Plan, it added.

Despite establishing regional economic corridors to boost economic activities, the Sarawak, Eastern and Northern regions recorded lower growth than the national average during the period of 2016-2017.

These regions, which relied more on industrial commodities particularly oil palm and rubber, were affected by the El-Nino phenomenon in 2016.

-- BERNAMA