BBYB 2021

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45 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 and 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.
There are three key prohibitions under the order:
anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant
position and anti-competitive mergers.
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 The two
remaining key prohibitions will be enforced
at a later stage.
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 Growth
While the pandemic has had a significant
economic impact, Brunei’s economy is still
forecast to be strong and able to record
growth.
In October 2020, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook
projected the gross domestic product (GDP)
growth of Brunei to be 3.2 per cent in 2021.
IMF forecast the Sultanate’s growth to be 1.8
per cent in 2025.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic
Research Office (AMRO) in their September
2020 forecast stated that it expects Brunei’s
GDP to grow by 3.1 per cent in 2021.
Additionally, in AMRO’s Annual Consultation
Report on Brunei Darussalam published on
August 30, 2020, the agency said, “The GDP
grew by 3.9 per cent in 2019, and is expected
to continue to expand by 2.2 per cent in 2020,
supported by the full operation of Hengyi’s
refinery production, amid a sharp slowdown
in the global economy as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its
Asian Development Outlook in September
2020 forecast Brunei’s GDP growth to be
three per cent in 2021.
In the World Bank’s Human Capital Index,
which benchmarks key components of human
capital across 174 countries globally, Brunei
ranked third place in Southeast Asia, scoring
0.63 points after Singapore and Vietnam with
0.88 and 0.69 points respectively.
Last year also saw Brunei rank 88th out of 166
countries in the Sustainable Development
Report 2020, which focusses on progress
towards meeting United Nations (UN)
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Brunei scored highly in indicators relating
to health and well-being, education, gender
equality, affordable and clean energy, clean
water and sanitation, industry, innovation
and infrastructure.
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’.