KUCHING: The new economy in Sarawak is expected to expand and complement the traditional business sectors, which will be regenerated and restored in 2023.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Stakan branch chief Datuk Sim Kiang Chiok said these include carbon trading and storage, digital economy, hydrogen manufacturing, export of green electric energy, and other high-tech manufacturing.
‘These are the foreseeable future and the directions in which our economy and businesses will grow,” he said in a statement yesterday (Dec 30).
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As such, he said it is hoped that the state government set up its own commercial banks to assist local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and businesses.
“With our stable Sarawak government and strong leadership, they are restoring our Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) rights, and we can also expect better income for our state government to assist our economy and businesses in 2023 and beyond.
“We can also foresee that our business in Sarawak will be good in the medium and long term.
He asserted that the contradiction between wanting to recover from COVID-19 restrictions and controlling high inflation was causing the world economy to slow down.
And the prediction was that 2023 would see major economic countries going into recession, Sim added.
“With this background, we in Sarawak will not be spared from these external forces, and I am happy to see that our federal government has been formed with some stability so that we can all go forward together in facing the challenging year ahead.
“For businesses in 2023, my hope is that there will be political stability in Malaysia, an early end to the Russia-Ukraine war, further opening up of China’s economy from strict COVID-19 restrictions, and lower interest rates at the right balance so that economic growth is not impeded.
“Workers shortage in Sarawak can be resolved quickly with reduction of red tapes and processes. Stronger ringgit to reduce imported inflation,” he stressed.
Sim noted that the total number of various residential properties in Sarawak has increased from 284,610 units to 302,734 units.
This, he said, showed the pent up demand in the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns are being satisfied.
He added that the overhang in residential properties also showed an increase from 1,847 units in 2019 to 2,314 units in the third quarter of 2022.
“We are on the road to recovery, especially for residential properties,” he said.
However, he pointed out that the commercial and industrial properties were still slow in recovery.
He said this could be due to the difficulty in raising capital to carry out commercial activities because of uncertainty in the world economy.
Sim added that the work-from-home practices still in use also affected the demand for commercial and industrial properties.
“Going forward with the forecasted increase in interest rates to curb inflation, we foresee that property demand will be dampened until interest rates stabilise and would not move higher than the pre-prediction level of 3.25 per cent.
“It would be good that there is no more increase in interest rates as the economy is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and the Russia-Ukraine war.
“It is our hope that the state and federal governments will continue with their caring policies not only to reduce the cost of living but also the cost of doing business in Sarawak and Malaysia,” he stressed.
