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Brunei: Challenges ahead as Brunei strives for economic diversification
Brunei: Challenges ahead as Brunei strives for economic diversification
MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2016 – DESPITE a recovery in GDP (gross domestic product) at the end of the first quarter this year, Brunei?s road to economic diversification remains a challenging one as some critical areas face a downturn along the way.
At the end of the first quarter of 2016, the country?s GDP at constant prices recorded a growth of 3.2 per cent in comparison to the year before where the economy shrunk by 5.2 per cent.
According to the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE), the growth in GDP was due to increased oil and gas production. In its first quarter report, the oil and gas sector increased by 7.6 per cent at constant prices, following increase in oil production to 135.2 thousand barrels per day, up from 124.5 thousand barrels per day from the first quarter of 2015.
LNG manufacturing had also recorded a growth of some 12 per cent, to 1,037.7 thousand MMBtu over this period.
However at the same time, other areas in the industrial sector had posted negative growth, possibly due to cuts in government spending. Read More?