BBYB 2020

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41 INVESTMENT POTENTIAL
Through Brunei Vision 2035, the country aims
to transform into a nation widely recognised
for the accomplishments of its well-educated
and highly skilled people as measured by the
highest international standards. The nation aims
to achieve a quality of life and per capita income
within the top 10 countries with a dynamic,
sustainable economy.
Brunei Darussalam introduced the Competition
Order 2015 to achieve this vision, particularly
in terms of economic growth. The order aims
to foster healthy competition in the market by
prohibiting acts and factors that may disrupt the
market competition.
The first key prohibition covers four illegal
conducts: price fixing, market sharing, supply
control and bid rigging. The Competition
Commission of Brunei Darussalam (CCBD) began
enforcing the first key prohibition on January 1,
2020 and launched its official website at www.
.
To be enforced at a later stage are the two
remaining key prohibitions: abuse of dominant
position and anti-competitive merger.
Enforcing healthy competition among businesses
will benefit consumers through several ways
such as an increased number of choices,
improved product quality, and affordable prices.
In return, this will boost the local economy in the
long run.
In terms of consumer protection, Brunei
previously introduced the Consumer Protection
(Fair Trading) Order 2011 which commenced in
January 2012. The order protects consumers
against unfair practices such as false claims and
hidden charges, complementing the Competition
Order 2015.
Positive Economic Growth
Brunei is one of six ASEAN member states that
received higher inflows in 2018 than in 2017,
according to the ASEAN Investment Report 2019.
The report noted that foreign direct investment
(FDI) in Brunei rose from USD460 million in 2017
to USD504 million in 2018.
Recent reports of various sources have forecast
the economic growth in the country. Last
December, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
forecast the Sultanate’s gross domestic product
(GDP) growth rate to be one per cent in 2019 and
1.5 per cent in 2020.
According to the report’s Global Sustainable
Competitiveness Index, Brunei performed well in
intellectual capital competitiveness (46), natural
capital competitiveness (51) and social capital
competitiveness (66).
Overall, the Sultanate is ranked 65th out of 180
economies with an overall score of 45.5 out
of 100. The index measures current and future
capacity to generate and sustain population,
income and wealth based on natural capital,
social capital, resource management, intellectual
capital and governance efficiency.
Meanwhile, according to the 14th Annual State
of the Region for 2019-2020 report by the Pacific
Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), Brunei’s
GDP growth is projected to be 4.7 per cent in
2020, an increase of 2.9 per cent compared to
2019. For 2021 and 2022, the GDP growth is
projected to be 3.6 per cent and 3.5 per cent
respectively.
The report includes PECC’s innovative index on
connectivity in the region. A notable finding in the
report was that the result for people-to-people
connectivity for Brunei is 54.4 per cent. Brunei
performed very strongly on two sub-indices of
this pillar, educational mobility and social media
penetration at 14.6 per cent and 14.3 per cent
respectively. The report indicated that Brunei has
the highest social media penetration among the
Asia-Pacific economies.
In terms of doing business in Brunei, the World
Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report ranked the
country 66th out of 190 economies with an Ease
of Doing Business (EODB) score of 70.1 out of
100. Substantive improvements were seen in the
local regulatory framework for the indicators on
‘Enforcing Contracts’ and ‘Resolving Insolvency’.
The latest United Nations Human Development
Index (HDI) ranked Brunei 43rd out of 189
countries. The index uses indicators such as
life expectancy, education and gross national
income (GNI) per capita to measure a country’s
level of development. According to the report,
Brunei’s GNI per capita is USD76,389 based on
purchasing power parity (PPP), the fourth highest
in the world.
Depending on the overall score, a country’s
development index is categorised as low,
medium, high or very high. With a score of 0.845,
Brunei is at a very high development index,
reflecting its high standard of living, health,
quality of education and economic performance.