Press Digest - Kelantan tops chart of below average household income

PETALING JAYA: Almost 85% of households in Kelantan are living with a monthly income below the average RM6,000 benchmark in Malaysia, according to a study by Khazanah Research Institute (KRI).
The study, titled The State of Household, has thus considered them as earning the lowest household income compared to the other states, Utusan Malaysia reported on Tuesday.
It also revealed that more than 30% of households in the east coast state earned less than RM2,000 per month.
KRI managing director Datuk Charon Mokhzani said only 15.2% of households in Kelantan earned more than RM6,000 a month, adding that the study indicated the richest and poorest state in Malaysia.
The study also revealed that there is a disparity of wealth in terms of households nationwide, but the differences could be due to the economic attraction a state receives, he said.
"Selangor recorded a gross domestic product of almost RM250 billion, equivalent to the value of Myanmar's economy.
"More than 50% of households in Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor earned more than RM6,000 a month, and at the same time they have the highest number or households earning more than RM15,000," he was quoted as saying by the Malay daily.
Charon said the study was based on economic data in 2014 as it was the latest information available.
Perak ranked second after Kelantan on the household income ranking, with 81.1% of its households living with below RM6,000 monthly income.
Other states that recorded household income of below average were Perlis with 80.3% households earning below RM6,000, Pahang (80.3%) and Kedah (79.1%).