By Karen Bong
KUCHING, June 21: Sarawak wants to significantly increase the average household income from the current RM5,000 to RM16,000 per month by 2030 through the government’s Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) in order to put Sarawak ahead of Malaysia as a whole.
Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg emphasised that his vision for Sarawak is that by 2030, Sarawak will be a developed State with a thriving economy driven by data and innovation where everyone enjoys economic prosperity, social inclusivity and a sustainable environment.
“Our development strategy is not only about economic growth, but it is also about cascading the wealth and prosperity equitably and maintaining environmental sustainability for all the people of Sarawak.
“In order to achieve a high income and advanced State by 2030, we will need to achieve an economic growth rate of between 6 to 8 per cent annually to double the size of our economy to RM282 billion by 2030,” he said in his keynote address at the 5th International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (Idecs) at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here today.
Giving assurance that the initiatives rolled out are community-centric, Abang Johari said that the distribution of wealth to the community must be equitable for both urban and rural settings.
“We must not forget the vulnerable segments of our society, including B40, M40 and the rest. Our PCDS2030 initiatives will support financial sustainability for the poor and shelters for our fellow Sarawakians in need.
“Our focus will not only be growing GDP (Gross Domestic Product) but also how the growth is translated to every Sarawakian,” he added.
Elaborating, Abang Johari said Sarawak’s focus is on restructuring and diversifying the economy into high value downstream industries while creating a thriving society.
Advancing digital transformation, he continued, is key towards improving productivity and efficiency which Sarawak needs to fully embrace to maximise economic value in a dynamic and volatile global business environment.
The eight economic sectors which have been identified to become primary growth engines for Sarawak are agriculture and commodities, manufacturing, forestry, tourism, mining, renewable energy and services.
“The focus will be on lifting existing productivity levels significantly and sustainably across all sectors of the economy through the adoption of digital technology, data and innovation.
“We envisage our exports will increase by about three times supported by more high value-added products created from our manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and mining sectors,” he said.
He added that the Sarawak government will help the private sector grow its respective industries and expects the private sector will respond by investing and doing more in the sectors that are the State’s focus.
Deputy Premiers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dr Hazland Abang Hipni, conference chairwoman Datu Dr Sabariah Putit as well as representatives from various government departments and agencies were among those present.
The two-day hybrid conference, themed ‘Decoding Big Data for Environment and Energy Sustainability’, has attracted some 2,500 delegates to the event in person and more than 40,000 online viewers, which include participants at a total of 42 Digital Community Centres (DCCs) throughout Sarawak logged in to view the sessions. — DayakDaily
