Sabah’s economy resilient, thanks to commodities

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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s economy has remained resilient in the face of the global economic slowdown, Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said.

He said the state economy had expanded annually at an average of 5% between 2006 and this year.

Exports of commodities such as crude palm oil continue to be the main driver of the state’s economy, Musa said when launching a seminar on strategic planning for the 10th Malaysia Plan here yesterday.

He said Sabah’s trade balance had increased from RM5.3bil in 2006 to RM18.1bil two years later.

“This means our trade balance jumped by 241% in the first three years of the 9th Malaysia Plan.

“And despite the onset of the economic crisis last year, we achieved the highest trade balance of RM18.1bil, representing a 132% increase compared to 2007,” Musa said.

Similarly, Sabah’s exports expanded by 78% from RM27bil in 2007 to RM48.1bil a year later.

Conversely, Musa said Sabah’s unemployment bucked the global trend by showing a decline from 5.7% to 4.9% between 2006 and 2008.

At the same time, per capita income had grown from RM8,863 in 2006 to RM9,612 last year.