Brunei Witnesses Surge Of Registered Companies

THERE has been a 12 per cent increase in the number of companies registered in the sultanate in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, following reforms in the country’s business infrastructure and improvements in the economic climate.

This was stated in Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam’s (AMBD) latest policy statement revealed on December 22.

The tourism sector, under the services sector, also recorded encouraging growth, experiencing a 25.7 per cent increase in the second quarter (Q2) of 2017 compared to Q2 2016.

The policy statement further added that the gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices expanded 0.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in Q2 2017, recovering from a 1.7 per cent y-o-y contraction in Q1 2017.

The oil and gas sector expanded by 1.1 per cent y-o-y at constant prices, supported mainly by the increase in the manufacture of liquefied natural gas and methanol by 11.4 per cent y-o-y.

Meanwhile, the non-oil and gas sector also increased by 0.1 per cent y-o-y in Q2 2017, mostly contributed by growth in the manufacture of food and beverage products by 13.5 per cent y-o-y. In current prices, the finance sector was 6.9 per cent of GDP in Q2 2017.