Sabah's growth potential certain: Expert
Published on: Thursday, May 26, 2016
Kota Kinabalu: Activities in the tourism, exports and downstream coupled with several multi-million infrastructure developments will see Sabah positioned for a unique opportunities for growth over the next few years, a Bank Negara economist said. Yeam Shin Yau said Sabah is positioned to tap into the downstream activities of the oil and gas and palm oil, while increase exports into the Asean region and at the same time improve its tourism arrivals. He said such opportunities come along with a number of infrastructure development projects on the cards such as upgrades of the local ports, the implementation of the Pan-Borneo project that was launched in April, as well as the upcoming aviation hub master plan which is currently in the planning stages.
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The projects which come along with a substantial amount of allocation will have a positive spillover to the State ecomomy, he said. "Sabah is strong at palm oil and oil and gas, which expose the State to unpredictable ups and downs of its global prices. "The State can do more if they start to diversify, go into manufacturing of biomass, process these oil into high-quality chemicals like in engine oil, soap and others for oil palm," he said during an interaction session between the Department of Statistics and respondents for the 2016 Economic Census here. Earlier Yeam noted that the State's economic growth was unique that it was performing very well despite the country sees a 1.5 per cent drop in growth during the 2009 global financial crisis.
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He said Sabah had not been crisis since 2006 due to its reliance to the services, agriculture and oil and gas industries. He noted Sabah was protected by the better commodity prices, whereby Agriculture account for 35 per cent and mining 21 per cent of the State economy based on the records of the Statistics Department.
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"The other States were experiencing a fall in growth perhaps due to its dependency to the manufacturing sector, the fall of Ringgit and the slowing down exports have contributed to the drop in economic growth on the country. "Since manufacturing is small in Sabah, the State is protected and not being expose too much to the manufacturing," he said. At the same time, Yeam said the State's tourism sector is also on the road to recovery, after experiencing a drop in arrivals for Chinese tourists due to the 2014 kidnapping. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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