Over Bureaucracy Deters Foreign Capital Into Brunei, Says Top Official

Bandar Seri Begawan - There are a number of weaknesses in Brunei including over bureaucracy that deterred Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reaching these shores, a top government officials said yesterday.

The Chairman of the Brunei Economic Development Board Dato Haji Yussof made the remarks at the opening of the Foreign Direct Investment Capacity Building Workshop now being held in the capital.

The sultanate has a very small domestic market and still in far too many ways an un-diversified mono-economy. At times he added the system tends to be over bureaucratic acknowledging a number of weaknesses that certainly existed in Brunei.

The success of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Brunei depends on many successful and interrelated relationships namely between the government, institutions and the business community and perhaps more importantly with Brunei's ordinary citizens, the Brunei official added.

Dato Haji Yussof however commended the timing of the seminar since Brunei like other countries in the region have been encountering a decline in flow of foreign investment due to the emergence of new global key economic players and worsened by the global slowdown and security uncertainty.

He said the workshop is in line with the Brunei Economic Development Board strategy to diversify the economy.

Two speakers from Jetro Japan are conducting the two-day seminar, which is being attended by officials from various government departments, several business organisations and financial institutions.

Brudirect.com