Brunei National Accounts 2007

I received this from my colleague at PMO yesterday. This is the latest publication from the Economic Planning and Development Department (EPDD as my minister likes to call them) or Jabatan Perancangan dan Perkembangan Ekonomi (JPKE which shortform is usually used).

What's important about the national accounts? The national accounts give a variety of indicators about the health of our economy. The most important indicator is that it gives the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Brunei. So for 2007, the GDP for Brunei is $18,512.3 million or $18.5 billion. Last year it was $18.2 billion and in 2005 it was $15.9 billion. In terms of GDP per capita, it was $47,467 but because the economy grew much less than population growth, that was lower compared to $47,587 for 2006.

For the last five years though, Brunei has had inconsistent growth rates. For 2003 it was 2.9%, 2004: 0.5%, 2005: 0.4%, 2006: 4.4% and 2007: 0.6%.

Despite the oil prices, the growth for the oil and gas sector has been more negative 2003: 4.5%, 2004: -1.0%, 2005: -2.6%, 2006: 4.3% and 2007: -6.9% whereras the non oil and gas sector has always been positive 2003: 0.9%, 2004: 2.5%, 2005: 4.1%, 2006: 4.5% and 2007: a massive 9.5%. There are many interesting reasons but I won't go through them here.

Even though there are many statistics and publications that you can get from JPKE's website this particular book is either not yet available or available only in hard copy. But whatever it is contact JPKE if you need a copy.