KOTA KINABALU, Sept 10 — Sabah has continued its streak of recording its highest revenue year-on-year, achieving RM7 billion last year, making it the sixth largest contributor to Malaysia's 2023 Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said figures released by the Statistics Department of Malaysia (DOSM) in July showed that Sabah contributed 5.5 per cent to the nation's GDP last year.

"Together with Selangor, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sarawak, and Penang, we contributed 73 per cent to the national economy,” he said.

"Last year, we received RM11.34 billion in investments, the seventh-highest in Malaysia, with 13.3 per cent garnered from the manufacturing sector,” he said at the Eighth World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress (ESTCON) here today.

Sabah achieved a revenue collection of RM6.96 billion in 2022 and RM5.449 billion in 2021.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), Sabah's GDP grew by 3.7 per cent in 2022, with a total value amounting to RM81.9 billion, surpassing 2021’s RM79 billion.

However, its GDP per capita remains among the lowest, at RM31,147 in 2023, down from RM35,860 in 2022.

Organised by Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and PETRONAS, Sabah is hosting ESTCON for the first time, with over 1,000 participants from 25 countries.

Hajiji emphasised the need for quality tertiary education institutions in Sabah to provide excellent science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related qualifications, as the state government has set a target for at least 40 per cent of its students to be enrolled in the science stream by next year.

"It is important that a substantial part of the student population in Sabah is in STEM education,” he said.