KOTA KINABALU, March 28 — Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor does not want Sabah to depend only on the trading of commodities, especially palm oil and oil and gas, in developing the state’s economy, but rather to diversify and develop new economic resources.
He said that to realise this, the research results from the 21 studies and research centres in the state need to be fully utilised to develop downstream industries in Sabah.
“Sabah needs to utilise the results of all this research to launch a paradigm shift to develop new economic resources,” he said in a statement after chairing a meeting of the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (Sedia) in Tuaran today.
He noted that among the studies were the redevelopment of tourism in Mesilau; the redevelopment of the Poring Hot Water Centre, Ranau; the economic development study at the Sabah border; the master plan and business plan study for free economic zones; and the Sabah Inland Food Valley master plan study.
He said based on statistics from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), Sabah’s main exports in 2022 are palm oil, amounting to RM21.1 billion; liquid natural gas (RM5.2 billion); crude petroleum (RM30 billion); and palm kernel oil (RM3.1 billion).
Hajiji, who is also the chairman of Sedia, noted that the state’s other export goods, both raw and processed, only amounted to RM3.5 billion. “This proves that we need to identify a wider market for non-commodity export goods. We also need to increase the production of non-commodity goods that have high export potential,” he said. — Bernama
