Brunei Expects $5.2 Billion Revenue
By Hadi DP Mahmud

Bandar Seri Begawan - The Brunei Government expects a revenue of $5.2 billion in the fiscal year 2006-07 (April to March), according to a country report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a division of the Economist Group business.

The EIU forecasts that government finances should remain in surplus throughout the forecast period (2006-2007), given high global oil prices. The oil and gas sector is believed to continue generating the bulk of the sultanate's exports as well as most of the nation's income; the sector accounts for 91, per cent of the overall expected earnings. The remainder is expected to come from government services ($400 million) and the non-oil and gas sector ($90 million).

In March last year, a Legislative Council meeting revealed a budget of $4.5 billion for fiscal year 2006-07, up $100 million from its budget in fiscal year 2005-06. Education, healthcare, defence and security services received the largest allocations under the budget. Some $900 million was allocated for development spending, which the EIU report described as "stable" in comparison to previous fiscal years.

Brunei's GDP growth is expected to "remain firm, if relatively modest", at around three per cent in both 2006 and 2007 - on the assumption that major political upset is avoided in the region and that there is no outbreak of serious infectious disease, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) or avian influenza.

The planned Pulau Muara Besar port, pivotal to the government's scheme to create thousands of jobs, will face. Tough competition from nearby established transhipment hubs such as Malaysia's Port Klang and the Port of Singapore. According to the report, construction of the facility is not expected to begin until late this year.

In a titah marking New Year 2006, His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam identified unemployment as a potential threat to social stability in the sultanate. As a solution to the problem, His Majesty looked to the private sector to generate more jobs, which would have twin additional advantages of assisting economic diversification and of reducing reliance on the public sector. A $250 million `Human Resources Fund Project' was established by the Prime Minister's Office two weeks after the titah. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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