Sabah to boost industrial sector’s contribution
KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah aims to increase the contribution of its industrial sector to the state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 35 per cent in 20 years from 7.5 per cent currently.
State Ministry of Trade and Industry Deputy Permanent Secretary Tseu Kei Yue said growth is expected in several areas, including the resource- based downstream industry, particularly palm oil and oil and gas.
“We will also look into other non- resource based industries such as automotive,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the “Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) Invest Series : Unfolding States’ Business Potential for Sabah” event yesterday.
Tseu said the industrial sector’s contribution to the state’s GDP is expected to increase by one to two per cent annually and create between 15,000 and 19,000 jobs a year.
We will also look into other non-resource based industries such as automotive.
To achieve this target, he said, the Ministry requires support from the state and federal government in setting up the enablers for the development, such as the port and road networks.
Currently, the main contributor to Sabah’s GDP is the services sector, particularly tourism, which accounted for 41 per cent of it, said Tseu.
Meanwhile, MIDA deputy chief executive officer II (Manufacturing and Services Development) Arham Abdul Rahman in his opening speech said as a state which is blessed with natural resources, Sabah is certainly one of Malaysia’s vibrant destinations for investment.
“As of December 2017, 761 manufacturing projects with investments worth RM15.1 billion were undertaken in Sabah, creating over 90,000 jobs, particularly in food manufacturing, paper, printing and publishing, wood and wood products, chemical and chemical products as well as non-metallic mineral products,” he said.
He also said Sabah had approved over RM40 million worth of investments in the first half of this year in food manufacturing and fabricated products.
Arham also highlighted that in embracing the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the government had introduced several incentives such as MIDA’s Domestic Investment Strategic Fund (DISF).
The DISF targeted Malaysianowned companies seeking to
Tseu Kei Yue, State Ministry of Trade and Industry Deputy Permanent Secretary
accelerate the shift to high valueadded activities, high technology, knowledge intensive and innovation-based industries.
Since its introduction in 2012, MIDA has approved 308 projects with investments of RM14.7 billion, with an approved grant value of RM1.51 billion.
However, Arham noted that no Sabah company had benefited from the scheme. — Bernama