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 Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah 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.