KOTA KINABALU, March 22 — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today promised to correct the socio-economic imbalance in Sabah that has caused it to fall behind the rest of the country within the next decade.

The prime minister is on a two-day visit to the north Borneo state and said its slow development and lack of infrastructure is because of Sabah’s size.

"There is some development, but Sabah is behind, it’s really more than a state, it’s like a region.

"In the next 10 years, we have mapped out plans to balance out the disparity by increasing the income per capita. We will try to decrease the difference,” he said during a town hall session with civil servants at the state administrative building here.

Muhyiddin mooted online business training, maximising agriculture potential, and establishing schools that are closer to where people live for easier access among his plans.

"As an example, we think training to run an online business is important. This is so they can run a side business. It is easier to market to wider markets,” he said.

Muhyiddin said that part of the issue was that rural communities had problems with accessibility and creating online presence would solve the issue.

He also said that there were plans to go into agriculture, utilising technology in a big way.

"This is our approach to bring Sabah’s economy up,” he said.

Muhyiddin was replying a question from the audience who wanted to know the federal government’s plans on balancing out the rate of development in Sabah with other states in Malaysia.

Earlier, he shared the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 blueprint which included expanding the Sepanggar Bay container port, more roads to connect Sabah and making Sabah a cluster in the National Aerospace Industry Coordinating office.

He said that Sabah had a lot of potential for foreign investors and he had ideas to attract them to the state, which would also potentially bring back youths who have been compelled to leave to seek opportunities elsewhere.

He also said the government had plans for the flagging tourism industry which he said suffered the most as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We know the industry has been the hardest hit. We had 28 million tourists coming in before but now we are not even allowed to leave our homes,” he said.

Muhyiddin said that they have tried to lighten the burden by giving tax exemptions and financial aid to tourism firms, but was also preparing plans for when borders re-open.

"When more people are vaccinated, we can allow more relaxation. So rest assured, we have plans,” he said.

Muhyiddin is on the last day of his two-day visit to Sabah.