Sabah

As the second phase of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) gets under way, the chief minister, Musa Aman, has announced that cumulative planned investment in the programme has reached RM57bn ($17.7bn) – almost four times the target value set just last year.

With significant recent gas discoveries off the coast of Sabah, excitement about the country’s future as an oil and gas producer is growing. In the meantime, the national oil giant Petronas is moving forward with its plans to ensure Sabahans receive the necessary training to meet the need for skilled workers in the oil and gas fields.

In line with a broader, nationwide policy of exploiting offshore oil and gas sources, recent moves in Sabah to develop a new gas field and link it up with the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) should pay dividends for the state as it seeks to advance its energy and development plans.

With the government pushing ahead with efforts to achieve high-income status by 2020, the need to accelerate education transformation in Sabah, particularly in rural areas, has moved to the forefront of late.

With Sabah’s leaders increasingly prioritising agricultural land and resources as a driver of economic growth, the state’s fruit and vegetable industry looks set for a growth surge in the months ahead.

The banking sector in Sabah – already well-managed and capitalised – seems poised for a positive performance in 2011, but consumers will also benefit from an increase in competition. With strong economic fundamentals in place on the back of high crude palm oil (CPO) prices (which tend to broadly track those of regular crude oil) and a burgeoning local tourism sector, Sabah’s financial services market is attracting growing interest from foreign players.