subject: The 10th Malaysian Plan, Reported By Oxford Business Group [print this page] There are key areas that have been discussed in Malaysias parliament that are aimed at driving the countrys economy towards a high income level. The chief minister of Sabah, the second largest state in Malaysia, Musa Haji Aman discussed some of these areas that are very relevant to his state with the Oxford business group researchers and they prepared this report.
The major economic aspects f this plan that target the state of Sabah are palm oil industries, agriculture, gas and tourism. Under these aspects there are various resource based industries that have been identified to be on an upward trend and will grow significantly over the period of the 10th Malaysian Plan.
They include food processing industries relating to fruits and vegetables, palm oil, rubber and cocoa, marine and aquaculture products such as the seafood industry, dairy and livestock products and finally the silica-based and petro- chemical and gas industries.
The state will pay more attention to these sectors and put emphasis on developing sophisticated manufacturing infrastructure, train more people to improve levels of knowledge and expertise which in turn will better the production capacity and quality levels. The state should also carry out more research and development activities.
The input of the private sector is also a great way to keep the industries on their toes since they provide the needed competition that will ensure product quality levels are high and market forces of supply demand are met. The private sector has a big input on certain industries such as medical tourism, health, transport, shopping, biodiesel and even agriculture.
These plans are going to be executed in different phases and will be financed by public funds such as taxes and bonds, private sector money and other finance initiatives. These plans are also aimed at fostering unity through diversity in the people and achieving socio-economic goals. The plans also aims to encourage small and medium size companies as well as anchor companies such as insurance firms, banks and consultancy firms to venture into the targeted areas.
These SMEs are not merely just to support the larger companies but also to lay foundations for future growth of the state. They will receive tailored support at the all stages of the plan to provide all the guidance that is needed for them to grow and develop steadily. In addition to this, various studies have been commissioned that focus on the industries that have a high economic impact such as oil and gas, tourism and biomass to uncover new and diverse opportunities for the SMEs to exploit.
The 10th Malaysian plan has recognized the impact of science and technology to facilitate the country into knowledge based economy. This means the implementation of state of the art technologies and ICT functions into the key areas that are targeted for development. Using these different functions will help propel the economy to the desired levels if they are well implemented.
