Awang Tengah (front, left) shares a light moment with his ministry’s permanent secretary Zaidi Mahdi prior to delivering his ministerial winding-up speech in the DUN.
KUCHING: Sarawak recorded total trade of RM97.7 billion in the first eight months of this year, with exports of RM68 billion and imports RM29.7 billion.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said liquefied natural gas (LNG) remained the biggest contributor at 40.9 per cent of export receipts, followed by crude petroleum (13.1 per cent), palm oil and palm-based products (9.4 per cent), aluminium (5.8 per cent), condensate and other petroleum oil products (5.3 per cent), timber and timber-based products (4.2 per cent), ferroalloys (3.8 per cent), electrical machinery and apparatus (2.1 per cent), while fertiliser, food and agro-based products stood 15.4 per cent.
Awang Tengah, who is also Minister of International Trade and Industry, Industrial Terminal and Entrepreneur Development, told the august House that the import items comprised motor vehicles constituting 5.5 per cent, followed by aluminium ores and concentrates (5.5 per cent) and petroleum products (5.2 per cent).
“Our major export partners are Japan, Peninsular Malaysia, China, Republic of Korea and India, while our imports mainly come from Peninsular Malaysia, China, Japan, Indonesia and Australia,” he said.
He added that many of Sarawak’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) had successfully ventured into the global market; thus making it important to continue giving support and nurture their growth and competitiveness.
“SMEs are the backbone of our economy, constituting up to 98.5 per cent of the total business establishments in the country.”
He added that SMEs contributed 38.3 per cent of the national gross domestic products (GDP) last year, from 37.8 per cent the previous year.
It is projected that the contribution to the national GDP would Increase to 38.7 per cent this year, and 39.1 per cent in 2020. Awang Tengah added that SME employed 7.1 million people last year, or 66.2 per cent of total employment, while export had also expanded from RM166.2 billion in 2017 to RM171.9 billion last year.