KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Selangor has been named as a new high-income state, according to World Bank Malaysia’s lead economist Apurva Sanghi.

The Star reported that according to Apurva, the state has surpassed the high-income threshold of US$14,000 (RM64,491), reaching a gross national income (GNI) per state capita of US$14,291.

Four other states that have passed the threshold are Kuala Lumpur (US$29,967), Labuan (US$19,117), Penang (US$16,600) and Sarawak (US$16,560).

In his post on X on July 4, Apurva said that the country is projected to hit high-income status by 2030 but that this would depend on the exchange rate of the ringgit to the US dollar.

"Malaysia remains in the upper middle income bracket but will reach higher income by 2030 if the ringgit to USD exchange rate is maintained at around RM4.7 to 1 USD, if the average growth rate is 4 per cent and the inflation constant near long-term rate is around 2 per cent,” he told The Star.

According to Apurva, Malaysia’s GNI per capita increased slightly from US$11,830 in 2022 to US$11,970 in 2023 as of July, but it is still US$2,035 short of reaching the high-income level.

He also said that high income does not equate to high development. Citing Sarawak as an example, he mentioned that the state may have a high-income status but also a high poverty rate of 10.8 per cent, in 2022. By comparison, Perlis may not be a high-income state but it has a low poverty rate of 4 per cent.