A/HRC/44/40/Add.1 for undocumented foreign workers.44 The minimum wage was raised to RM 1,100 (US$ 270) in 2019, just barely above the poverty line. 45 32. Nationwide, 20 per cent of households have a monthly income of less than RM 3,000 (US$ 738) and 8.8 per cent must scrape by on less than RM 2,000 (US$ 492). The situation is even worse in certain areas. In Kelantan, 48.4 per cent of households have an income of less than RM 3,000 and 22.9 per cent of households make less than RM 2,000 per month. East Malaysia also has a disproportionate number of low-income households, with 16.1 per cent of households in Sabah and 15.5 per cent in Sarawak living on less than RM 2,000.46 V. Social protection 33. Despite the Malaysian economic “miracle”, its expenditure on social protection in 2017 was lower than all South-East Asian countries for which data was available and, unusually, its social protection spending has not risen in step with gross domestic product (GDP).47 While low government revenues limit the resources available for social protection, this is because it “significantly under-collects in key revenue areas”. 48 It is projected to record one of the lowest levels of fiscal revenue in proportion to GDP in 2020 (17.9 per cent), well below the average for upper-middle-income countries (28 per cent) and down from 25.8 per cent in 2012.49 As of 2017, less than 10 per cent of Malaysians over 15 years old were paying income tax and the top marginal tax rate for very-high-income earners was just 28 per cent.50 34. Better targeted and implemented fiscal policies would readily enable the Government to develop a comprehensive and integrated social protection policy that will provide for all Malaysians across the life cycle. The Malaysia Social Protection Council is well positioned to do so, particularly if it draws on the expertise of the Working Group on the social protection blueprint, which has drawn up an ambitious plan in line with the compelling approach of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to social protection floors. The National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia should also intensify its currently insufficient efforts to monitor and protect economic and social rights. Social support 35. The social protection system is fragmented, inadequate, underfunded and poorly targeted. According to the Government, there are at least 110 different programmes spread across more than 20 ministries and agencies. Most importantly, as UNICEF has noted, the system has “virtually no redistributive or poverty reduction impact”. 51 That is because of inadequate investment, expenditure failing to keep pace with GDP growth and schemes that provide only small irregular benefits. 52 There is a lack of employee safety nets and income support for disadvantaged persons, such as the unemployed, single parents, persons with disabilities and older persons, remains ad hoc, insufficiently targeted and incapable of 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 8 Stewart Nixon, Hidekatsu Asada and Vincent Koen, “Fostering inclusive growth in Malaysia” OECD working papers No. 1371 (January 2017), pp. 11–12. Jacqueline David, “RM 1,100 minimum monthly wage comes into effect”, Borneo Post Online, 2 January 2019. Department of Statistics, Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report 2016, table 1.11, pp. 54–57. Stewart Nixon, Hidekatsu Asada and Vincent Koen, “Fostering inclusive growth in Malaysia”, p. 18. World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019: Making Ends Meet, p. 48. World Bank, Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2018: Realizing Human Potential, pp. 34 and 36, and Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019: Making Ends Meet, pp. 42 and 50. Stewart Nixon, Hidekatsu Asada and Vincent Koen, “Fostering inclusive growth in Malaysia”, p. 23. Submission by UNICEF Malaysia, p.2. Ibid.