SHAH ALAM, 19 Nov: The Selangor economy is expected to grow at a rate of 6.2 percent this year, slower compared to the 7.1 achieved in 2012.
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, when presenting the Selangor Budget 2014, said that the slow growth projections are based on the fatigue in some key macro indicators and a moderate performance in statistics of several economic sectors during the first three quarters.
He said that the state’s economic momentum is not expected to change much in 2014 compared to 2013, with a projected GDP growth of 6.1 percent.
He said that the agriculture sector is projected to grow at a slower rate, which is at 5.2 percent this year, compared to 5.5 percent in 2012.
“However, sub-sectors such as livestock, palm oil, fishing and other agriculture is expected to continue to contribute to the agricultural sector and spur growth forecasts at a rate of 5.1 percent for 2014,” he said.
Abdul Khalid said that the mining and quarrying sector is expected to remain as the engine of growth among all economic sectors at a projected rate of 18 percent for 2013 and 12.5 percent for 2014, compared to 16.7 percent for 2012 which was stimulated by construction activities.
“The sub-sector of housing, particularly low and middle cost housing as well as infrastructural projects are expected to continue to generate double-digit growth for the third largest sector in Selangor, while projections for the construction sector is at 10.3 percent for 2013, but will slow down for 2014, at a rate of 9.3 percent,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state’s largest economic sector, which is the services sector, is expected to grow at a rate of 6.0 percent and 6.1 percent for 2013 and 2014, which will be driven by sub-sectors.
“It consists of government services involving financial services such as insurance and real estate, while for business services, it includes wholesale and retail, residences, restaurants and utilities, transportation and communications.
“For the manufacturing sector, it is expected to satisfy the projected growth of 5.5 percent and 5.1 percent for 2013 and 2014,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abdul Khalid said efforts are in the pipeline to acquire all infrastructural costs for state government-owned colleges and universities, including the Selangor International Islamic University College (KUIS), following to financial administrative weaknesses due to abuse of power by Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders.
He said that the move is taken so that the administration of universities and colleges are not burdened by infrastructural costs, but only need to manage daily operation costs so that the institutions can focus on improving the quality of education, after taking into consideration the Auditor General’s Report 2012, which touched on the matter.
