KOTA KINABALU – The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the value of Sabah’s gross domestic product (GDP), with negative growth in numerous sectors.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor in tabling the state budget today said Sabah’s GDP has declined by 9.5% from RM85.6 billion in 2019 to RM77.5 billion in 2020.
“The state income per capita has also reduced to RM21,626 in 2020 compared to RM25,375 in 2019.
“These were driven by the negative growth of all main economic sectors of the state in 2020,” he said.
The construction sector was the worst hit with a growth rate of -29.1%, mostly driven by the sluggish civil engineering and non-residential building subsectors.
Lockdowns and the reduction of workers in construction sites during the period had also influenced the slowdown, said Hajiji.
Mining and quarrying also recorded a growth of -13.5% last year due to the decline in crude petroleum and natural gas extraction activities.
The services sector dropped by 7.4% due to the slowdown in the wholesale, retail, accommodation, food and beverage, transportation, storage, real estate, business, and services sectors, he said.
“This is reflected in the number of tourists arrivals to Sabah, which drastically decreased from 4.2 million people in 2019 to only 977.46 people in 2020, a drop of 76.7%,” said Hajiji, adding that the number of arrivals dropped further to 156,535 as of October this year.
In agriculture, the sector recorded a 6.6% drop, while the manufacturing sector was down 6.5%, due to the decline in the palm oil and logging sectors.
Hajiji said trade activities had also been affected by major trading partners, with exports dropping by 16% from RM49.2 billion in 2019 to RM41.3 billion in 2020.
However, he said import value had increased by 7.9% to RM38.1 billion in 2020 from RM35.3 billion in 2019.
“Nevertheless, Sabah still recorded a positive trade surplus of RM3.3 billion in 2020. The state inflation rate in 2020 also declined to negative 1.9% from 0.2 % in 2019,” he said.
However, he said, Sabah’s total exports have increased by 22.7% and reached RM24.9 billion compared to RM20.3 billion over the same period in 2020. – The Vibes, December 3, 2021
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