Sabah to work closely Federal govt on economy

 By Olivia Miwil - January 6, 2021 @ 4:10pm

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and Senior Minister for International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (left) in a discussion. - NSTP/ courtesy of SABAH CHIEF MINISTER'S OFFICE.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah remains an attractive investment destination for foreign investors.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said the state government would work closely with the federal government to boost the inflow of domestic and foreign investments into the state.

Hajiji said this was discussed in a meeting between him and Senior International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.

The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government is gearing to spur economic growth and achieving a quality development for Sabah, he added.

"Forging a constructive cooperation with the federal government is necessary to attract more new investments for Sabah," he said in a statement.

Hajiji added that both Sabah and the federal government would ensure the Prihatin and Penjana programmes as outlined in the National 2021 Budget to be executed successfully for the benefit of the people in Sabah.

During the tabling of the State 2021 Budget recently, Hajiji who is also the State Finance Minister said the inflow of domestic and foreign investment funds particularly in the manufacturing sector in year 2019 increased significantly to RM6.48 billion from RM0.23 billion in the previous year.

For the first quarter of last year, he said the value of investments approved was RM11.7 billion.

On this note, he said it reflected Sabah's appeal to attract foreign investors.

This year a total of RM142.85 million has been allocated for the development of the industrial and trade sectors under the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Industrial Development, Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) and the Chief Minister's Department.

Of that amount, RM49.35 million was allocated to the Industrial Development Ministry including the Industrial Development and Research Department to implement various programmes such as industrial infrastructure development, entrepreneurship, promoting investment, and efforts to enhance the competitiveness of industry by leveraging on the Industry Revolution (IR) 4.0.