BBYB 2020

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62 Borneo Bulletin Yearbook 2020
EASE OF DOING BUSINESS
The World Bank’s Doing Business Report
measures and benchmarks the domestic business
regulatory environments across 190 economies.
There have been significant improvements in
Brunei Darussalam’s Doing Business ranking
over the past five years.
From 2015 to 2020, Brunei leaped 39 places
from 105th to 66th. In the World Bank’s Doing
Business Report 2020, the country scored 70.1
out of 100, with improvements across several
indicators such as ‘Dealing with Construction
Permits’ and ‘Getting Electricity’. Brunei
maintained its top position in the ‘Getting
Credit’ category, together with the top-ranking
country New Zealand.
Meanwhile, in the Global Competitiveness
Report 2019 by the World Economic Forum,
Brunei was ranked 56th out of 141 economies.
The country climbed six positions in the report
compared to the previous year. Brunei improved
its scores across various areas related to ease
of doing business, including ‘Border Clearance
Efficiency’, ‘Financing of SMEs’ and ‘Ease of
Finding Skilled Employees’. Brunei earned
its highest ranks in the following pillars:
‘ICT Adoption’ (26), ‘Labour Market’ (30) and
‘Product Market’ (37).
The Government of His Majesty Sultan Haji
Hassanal BolkiahMu’izzaddinWaddaulah ibni Al-
Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul
Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan
of Brunei Darussalam has been continuously
working on improving the business ecosystem in
Brunei to attract foreign direct investments.
During the 12th Asia-Europe Summit Meeting in
Belgium, His Majesty stressed on the importance
of improving the business ecosystem for the
country. His Majesty said that an economy’s
resilience depends on its ability to adapt to digital
technologies to enable new markets and trading
across borders. In addition, participating in the
global value chains will increase productivity and
create more opportunities.
The Government of His Majesty aims to
further improve its business environment and
pave the way for economic diversification.
Progress on the country’s business reform
agenda is spearheaded and monitored by the
Ease of Doing Business Steering Committee.
The secretariat has been collaborating with
government and non-government agencies to
conduct workshops, gathering feedback from
various industries to streamline business-
related processes and regulations.