| Fizah HAB |
THE 12th annual session of the Legislative Council (LegCo), Brunei’s parliamentary body, will be officially opened by 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 at the Legislative Council building today.
Issues like boosting economic growth amid falling oil prices, attracting more foreign investors through diversification initiatives and pro-business approach, tackling the mounting unemployment, strengthening the tourism and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sectors as well as the current fate of Malay entrepreneurs are expected to be high on the LegCo agenda this year.
Over the years, the LegCo has seen a number of issues and questions discussed for the benefit and welfare of the people in this country. The meeting is significant for Brunei Darussalam’s development and is part of the government’s efforts to provide its citizens a forum in which to sit down, speak up and discuss views and opinions in a healthy way towards determining the fate of the people and the country’s development.
However, this year’s LegCo session assumes particular importance in the backdrop of the current global economic slowdown and Brunei’s budgetary constraints due to declining hydrocarbon prices.
The government has acknowledged that the current international economic climate surrounding the oil and gas industry is expected to further feed into Brunei’s financial deficit, should the trend continue. From a $213 million shortage in government spending for the year 2014-2015, it can spiral to $2.3 billion by the end of the current fiscal year if global oil prices continue to fall.
“With heavy reliance on oil and gas which accounts for 90 per cent of the government’s revenues, the sinking global oil and gas prices have significantly affected the government’s income. Therefore, prudent and unwasteful steps must be continuously implemented to reduce government expenditure so that the deficit can be reduced and the country’s finance is sustainable,” Pehin Orang Kaya Laila Setia Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance II, said recently.
With the plummeting oil prices hitting the economy hard, questions are likely to be raised in the session over government revenues and expected cuts in government’s budgetary spending.
The meeting also expected to discuss ways to counter declining government revenues and measures to diversify out of the conventional oil and gas sector.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell from $22.3 billion in 2013 to $21.6 billion in 2014, and although annual GDP statistics for 2015 have yet to be released by the Department of Economic Planning and Development, a year-on-year comparison of the third quarter of 2015 shows a 17 per cent decrease in economic output compared to Q3 in 2014.
With the 2015-2016 financial year ending on March 31, 2016, analysts are now looking forward to the 2016-2017 government budget, which is expected early next week, within the first few days of the Legislative Council session.
Other biting issues such as the rising rate of unemployment are also among the issues that are expected to be raised during the meeting.
Measures such as retrenchments and freezing of new hiring have already been implemented in most of the Sultanate’s oil and gas companies and in the public sector.
As of the end of December 2015, the number of jobseekers among locals (Brunei citizens and permanent residents) aged 18 to 59 years was 10,640 persons, compared to 10,385 persons in November 2015.
The LegCo session is expected to discuss this issue in length and will try to suggest ways to help the government resolve it.
Saiful Amin, a recent Universiti Teknologi Brunei (UTB) graduate, told the Weekend Bulletin about possible new ways government could introduce to counter the rising unemployment rate.
“Introducing new industries and promoting and improving the current industries could help reduce unemployment rate and hopefully boost the economy, weaning of Brunei from its heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry, such as the creative and media industries.”
Another issue the public is keen to see raised during the LegCo session is related to tourism industry.
As a way to give tourism the much- needed boost, new intiatives are being introduced including the ‘One Village, One Product’ project where new additions have been made to the list of 162 products and services, including products and services that would serve to enrich the experience tourists would have in Brunei such as home-stays, tour packages and local handicraft souvenirs.
However, governmental support for the tourism industry, especially in budget allocation, remains uncertain.
The issue of insufficient budget allocation for tourism was raised in the LegCo sessions in 2008 and 2012 by Legislative Council member YB Pehin Kapitan Lela Diraja Dato Paduka Goh King Chin who had highlighted that the $1.5 million budget was inadequate to promote the Sultanate internationally on a large scale.
Junaidah, a Master’s student currently studying in Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), spoke about the potential of tourism and the primary industries to thrive in Brunei.
“By promoting Brunei as a nature-based tourist attraction and developing its primary industries such as fishing and agriculture, the country can prosper. What these industries needed is just enough budget and new ideas to develop it.”
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