The cost of living for households in the five areas of the Klang Valley, namely Petaling, Gombak, Klang, Putrajaya, and Kuala Lumpur, recorded high figures, between RM5,188 to RM6,490 per month, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
This data was obtained based on basic needs for a family of four.
Petaling topped the list with RM6,490, followed by Kuala Lumpur with RM6,346.
For rural areas such as Seremban and Gombak, the cost of living is also increasing, with MyPAKW recording a rate of more than RM5,000 per month.
This has led to the question, is the people's salary really equivalent to this soaring cost?
MyPAKW, a calculator application for calculating reasonable living expenses that was introduced to help determine basic expenses, provides a clear picture of the significant differences between urban and rural areas.
The cost of living in cities is higher, and this has become a hot topic of discussion among Malaysians.
Can hard-working Malaysians, especially in urban areas, survive if their salaries do not keep pace with the rising cost of living?
As the government introduces Net Disposable Income (NDI) as a new measure of poverty, we must ask whether this change is enough to help those who are truly affected by the rising cost of living?
