PUTRAJAYA: More Malaysians will fall into the “Bottom 40” poverty group if the rising cost of living is not addressed, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said.

He said it was getting harder for Malaysian households that earned below RM3,000 a month to even survive as prices keep going up.

“And, with the country aiming to become a developed nation in five years, things might just become even more expensive,” he said. “People who are not in the poverty group today might fall into that group soon.

“It is important for the government to study thoroughly on how to ensure that this group will not get left behind in development,” said Saravanan at the launch of the “Sahabat India” unit of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) here yesterday.

“Until today, AIM with the collaboration of Seed, has assisted 8,157 Indian women entrepreneurs, by providing them with about RM77mil in loans,” said Saravanan.

“But that is not enough,” he said. “We need to reach out to more women entrepreneurs from the Indian community. The setting up of this unit in AIM will hopefully boost more applications,” said the MIC vice-president.

The four seconded staff from Seed will be able to better serve the Indian community as they can give advice and conduct briefings in the Tamil language.

*The Star