KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will continue to implement a robust policy to bring in more investments to the state and create more economic spin-offs this year.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said those measures were reflected in the recently passed RM5.138 billion 2023 state budget.
Hajiji, who is also state Finance Minister, said the latest investment was the RM19.6 billion integrated green steel project at the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP).
"With this in place we are set to secure RM33.4 billion including several more investment projects that are in the process of being implemented.
"Sabah is also expected to collect additional revenue of RM2.45 billion annually in royalties and State Sales Tax (SST) payments from oil and gas."
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, state Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said 2023 could be a major turning point in its economic growth depending on how businesses were being conducted.
For the last 59 years, Sabah has been growing steadily at the rate of three per cent to seven percent annually.
However, Jeffery is confident the state could achieve far better than this economic growth level in view of its vast natural resources' endowment and strategic location in the region.
He added that other nations including Sabah's close neighbours have already started making changes and adopting new technologies to fully capitalise on their respective capabilities.
"Some of these changes will have an impact on us sooner or later such as the moving of Indonesia's capital to Kalimantan in Borneo.
"And Sarawak is also moving aggressively to regain control of its resources. So, we can't just be doing business as usual. We must do things out of the ordinary," said Jeffrey who is also the state Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry minister.
He added that Sabah should formulate new policies and laws to meet the requirements of modernization, global climate change challenges and new technologies as well adopting green and circular economic policy.
"There must also be a shift to conservation of our natural resources and capital as well as our environment.
"We must also embrace digital technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and employ the best people as well as create global connectivity and partnerships," he said.
To overcome financial dependency on the central government, Jeffrey said Sabah should continue to attract private funding initiatives or foreign direct investments by capitalising on its natural asset endowment to fund its economic development and transformation.