Govt will empower Manufacturing Investment Task Force
KOTA KINABALU: The State Government will empower the Manufacturing Investment Task Force this year to ensure that all approved investment proposals can be realized and their implementation accelerated.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor said the industrial and investment sector continues to drive the state’s economy and has contributed to the overall favourable investment amount.
According to Hajiji, in 2023, Sabah recorded investments amounting to RM11.346 billion, ranking the state seventh in Malaysia in terms of receiving the highest investments.
“The State Government has successfully stimulated the industrial sector and further encouraged growing investments in the economic chain,” he said at the opening and launching of the Bursa Marketplace Fair Sabah 2024 here on Saturday.
Industrial Development and Entrepreneurship minister Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe delivered Hajiji’s speech.
Hajiji said that investors with impacts such as SK Nexilis Malaysia Sdn Bhd have expanded its investments in Sabah through its subsidiary, Curix Sdn Bhd, in the construction of a copper granulation plant in the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) with an investment value of RM300 million.
He added that the oil and gas industry in Sabah is also developing in both upstream and downstream activities, adding that all these investments have met the high demand of the current global market and have focused on driving widespread growth and job opportunities for the people of Sabah.
Hajiji pointed out the importance of exposing the people of this state to education and financial literacy and having the mindset of an investor to make life better, contribute to community development, and help others achieve the same goals.
He added that based on research papers on the Malaysian Retail Investor Landscape recently published by Bursa Malaysia, respondents from Sabah and Sarawak generally have a relatively low level of understanding of stock investments.
“This underscores the importance of financial education in efforts to increase an individual’s proficiency in the stock market,” he said and reiterated that the State Government is fully committed to youth development as they represent the state’s largest investment that must be educated to become responsible investors in the coming decades.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), more than half or 52.5 per cent of Malaysia’s population consists of Millennials, Gen Z, or younger generations, and data from the Malaysian Youth Development Research Institute states that Sabah has the secondhighest number of youths in Malaysia.
“Therefore, now is the best time to help advance the status of our youth’s lives. I believe the Bursa Marketplace Fair can educate and help raise awareness of wise investing, especially among our youth,” he stressed.
Hajiji said as investors, it is important to learn how to acquire and protect capital, as well as to be vigilant against the increasing number of financial fraud schemes occurring every day.
“It mostly start with ourselves. This is where the role of Bursa Malaysia is crucial as they provide a lot of guidance and various investment opportunities that our youth should take advantage of,” he emphasized.
He also praised Bursa Malaysia for taking the initiative to cultivate financial literacy in young people through their gamification tool, Burmon Trader.
Hajiji hoped that the Bursa Marketplace Fair program will expose visitors to various digital tools that help educate and develop investors, such as MyBursa and the Bursa Anywhere app.
He also welcomed the recent launch of the Bursa Malaysia API gateway, given the low Central Depository System (CDS) account ownership rate in Sabah.