BBYB 2023

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51 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 www.
. 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
againstunfairpracticessuchasfalseclaims
and hidden charges, complementing the
CompetitionOrder 2015.
Steady growth
projected
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) in October last year forecast the
Sultanate’s gross domestic product
(GDP) growth at 1.2 per cent for 2022,
3.3 per cent in 2023 and 3.2 per cent in
2024.
According to IMF’s Regional Economic
Outlook: Asia and the Pacific October
2022: Sailing into Headwinds, higher
fuel prices bring benefits to commodity
exporters such as Brunei Darussalam as
it has provided a windfall from higher
export, revenue and bolstered private
consumption.
Meanwhile, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic
Research Office (AMRO) in its October
Economic Outlook last year forecast
Brunei Darussalam’s economic growth
for 2022 to be 0.7 per cent, revised
downwards from its three per cent
forecast in July last year.
For 2023’s GDP growth, the AMRO
revised its forecast for Brunei’s growth
from 3.9 per cent as projected in July to
three per cent in its October update.
In addition, the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) in its updated 2022 economic
outlook said that Brunei Darussalam’s
economic growth forecast this year is
3.6 per cent, which was unchanged
from their earlier projection in April 2022
on the assumption that crude oil prices
will remain elevated in the medium term.
It also reported that growth in 2023
will be supported by second phase
construction phase of Hengyi Industries
Sdn Bhd’s oil refinery and petrochemical
project.
Alsonotablewas that Brunei scoredhigh
with 83 per cent in the environmental,
social and governance (ESG) category
of the M&A Attractiveness Index 2021,
which was released in August last year.
The report ranks countries on their
capacity to attract and sustain mergers
and acquisitions activity based on six
factor groups.
On finance and economy, the Sultanate
almost reached a score of 50 per cent
and ranked 72nd out of 148 countries,
while it ranked seventh in the Southeast
Asian region with an overall score of 47
per cent.
In the United Nations Development
Programme’s (UNDP) 2021/2022
Human Development Index (HDI), which
measures three human development
criteria - health, knowledge and
standard or living - Brunei Darussalam
was ranked 51st out of 191 countries.
The Sultanate received a 0.829
score on the index with an average
life expectancy of 74.6 years and 14
years of expected schooling. It is also
categorised under the ‘very high’
development group, in which a nation
must receive a score of 0.8 or higher to
qualify.