Sabah Is Top Six Contributor to Malaysia’s GDP

Statistics Department of Malaysia’s economic figures released in July 2024 showed that Sabah's revenue of RM7 billion in 2023 contributed 5.5 per cent to the nation's GDP in 2023, ranking the State in the top six states in GDP contribution. Sabah contributed 73 per cent to the national economy in 2023. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said that in 2023, Sabah recorded RM11.34 billion in investments, the seventh highest in Malaysia, with 13.3 per cent generated from the manufacturing sector.

In his speech on 10 September 2024, at the Eighth World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress (ESTCON) at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), Kota Kinabalu, Hajiji said that the State Government has set a target of at least 40 per cent of its school students to be enrolled in the science stream by 2025. The youths in Sabah must prepare to lead in the State's progress. They must pursue quality tertiary education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and PETRONAS, Sabah, hosted ESTCON for the first time in Sabah, with participants exceeding 1,000 from 25 countries. The CM said that Sabah has rolled out the Digital Internet of Things (IoT) Sandbox in 2022 as part of the digital transformation. In November 2023, Sabah entered into a formal agreement with Huawei Technologies Malaysia, in Shenzhen, China, to receive technological innovation in agriculture; manufacturing; tourism; city planning; e-commerce; infrastructure; and digital government.

The innovation includes services which are AI-ready. In the energy sector, Hajiji said that Sabah has invested significantly in renewable options such as solar and wind energy; hydro; geothermal; and carbon sources which have proven to be more reliable power sources than the traditional ones. The Sabah Energy Roadmap and Master Plan 2040 (Sabah Energy RAMP 2040), which was launched in 2023 will strategically prepare Sabah towards a progressive development journey.