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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/296

TRADE POLICY REVIEW:

A prosperous, relatively open economy still overly dependent on oil and gas

Brunei Darussalam is a small, relatively open economy that has intensified its participation in regional trade agreements and has reduced tariffs to low levels although there is still a large gap between applied and bound MFN rates. In several trade-related areas — notably TRIPs, customs procedures, telecommunications and standards — Brunei has made significant improvements to its regulatory framework since the previous review, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Brunei Darussalam.

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The country owes its prosperity to its abundant petroleum (oil and gas) resources whose share of GDP stood at 69% in 2006 accounting for 96% of exports and 94% of Government revenue. This leaves Brunei vulnerable to external shocks, particularly given the prospect of an eventual depletion of these resources probably over the next couple of decades.

The Government has faced the challenge and has been encouraging economic diversification, mainly into manufacturing and services, especially financial services, tourism and transport, but despite the provision of investment incentives for the private sector success in achieving this goal has been slow so far.

The report also notes that lack of transparency and public accountability in government policies might adversely affect the aim of encouraging foreign investment.

The WTO Secretariat report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Brunei Darussalam, will be the basis for the second TPR of Brunei Darussalam by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 25 and 27 February 2008.

The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations
  > Economic environment
  > Trade and investment regimes
  > Trade policies and practices by measure
  > Trade policies by sector
  > Appendix tables
    
• Government report
    

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

Madagascar: 2 and 4 April 2008
Mauritius: 23 and 25 April 2008
China: 21 and 23 May 2008

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