| Danial Norjidi & Hakim Hayat |
BRUNEI Darussalam has been ranked 58th out of 138 economies in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2016-2017, with a total score of 4.35 out of seven, the Energy and Industry Department at the Prime Minister’s Office announced in a press release yesterday.
Switzerland ranked as the most competitive economy worldwide for the eighth consecutive year, ahead of Singapore and the United States, followed by the Netherlands and then Germany in 5th place, climbing four places in two years.
Sweden (6) and the United Kingdom (7) both advanced three places, with the latter’s Global Competitiveness Index score based on pre-Brexit data. The remaining three economies in the top 10; Japan (8), Hong Kong SAR (9) and Finland (10) all moved backwards.
The report, widely recognised as the world’s leading assessment of competitiveness, highlighted that the top five most problematic factors for doing business in Brunei Darussalam were “inefficient government bureaucracy”, “access to financing”, “restrictive labour regulations”, “poor work ethic in national labour force” and “inadequate supply of infrastructure”.
According to the press release, “The report’s release comes at a time of significant focus 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’s Government to improve the business environment following the global drop in oil prices from an average of USD110 per barrel in 2010 to mid-2014 and thereafter dropping to the current average price of less than USD50 per barrel, which has resulted in negative growth and the slowing down of the economy.”
“His Majesty’s Government has since intensified diversification efforts to ensure the sustainability of the economy, recognising that inefficiency in the civil service needs to be addressed in order to increase competitiveness and drive progress.”
As part of comprehensive efforts to establish a pro-business environment that were applauded by the World Bank earlier this year, the Ease of Doing Business Steering Committee is actively driving business reform efforts to streamline inefficient government processes, ensure cost of doing business is competitive and that regulation is aligned with international best practice already addressing the top three identified barriers to business.
These reform efforts include the establishment of the Business Support Centre in Anggerek Desa as a single-point-access for business-related services; the introduction of the Collateral Registry System by December 2016, which will facilitate financing for SMEs; as well as a holistic review of the country’s labour policy by October 2016 to better support the business eco-system and facilitate the needs and aspirations of businesses in the country.
“Improving the business environment and ultimately Brunei Darussalam’s global competitiveness is a key priority of His Majesty’s Government to ensure Brunei Darussalam can sustain its trajectory of growth towards achieving Brunei Vision 2035, with greater collaboration, and transparency between public and private sectors are now a key success factor to stimulate growth in the non-oil and gas sector.”
The press release goes on to state that this may have contributed to the greater participation by companies in this year’s Global Competitiveness Report; ranging from Foreign Direct Investors, government-linked companies as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across various sectors of the economy such as oil and gas, agriculture, retail, logistics and communications.
A majority of the 12 pillars measured by the Global Competitiveness Report are actively monitored by the Brunei Vision 2035 Council and this year’s report will serve as the national baseline with Brunei Darussalam acknowledged as a ‘new entrant’ in the 2016 report.
This 2016-2017 report will allow the council to stock-take the country’s standing and intensify focus to drive socio-economic agenda for long-term sustainability.
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