Brunei Darussalam

2009 and 2010 will be challenging for the Bruneian economy in terms of its growth prospects. This is because of a major downturn in economies like the United States, Japan and the European Union. The first two are major trading partners of Brunei Darussalam.

The financial crisis which erupted with the U.S. subprime mortgage in late 2007 has deepened into a global financial crisis since September 2008. The impacts of this crisis are also now increasingly felt by emerging economies around the world and also in ASEAN. This financial shock coupled with the still high commodity and energy prices is expected to push the world economy into a recession in 2009.

Latest Available Demographic and Economic Data

First some of the latest available basic demographic and economic data prior to the forecast period of 2009 and 2010. Brunei had a recorded population of about 393,000 as at mid-2008. The annual rate of population growth rate decreased from 3.5 per cent in 2006 to 1.8 per cent in 2007. In the same period, the labour force participation rate decreased from 71.7 per cent in 2006 to 71.2 per cent in 2007. Unemployment stood at 3.4 per cent in 2007 and is expected to stay more or less the same in 2008. Real GDP will probably be in the negative zone in 2008 of about –0.5 per cent.