BRUNEI Darussalam’s economy grew by 1.3 per cent in 2017 after a 2.5 per cent decline in 2016. The overall growth was achieved after the gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2017 expanded by 5.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) said in a statement.
Last year’s Q4 GDP growth was mainly driven by external demand (exports of goods and services) which rose by 18.6 per cent, after an 8.7 per cent decline in the previous quarter. Similarly, domestic demand also registered positive growth, particularly in capital expenditure of the private sector, which continued to grow by 44.9 per cent, after a 2.5 per cent growth in Q3 2017.
On the supply side, the y-o-y positive growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 was contributed primarily by the Industrial Sector which recorded a further growth of 9.1 per cent.
This performance was buoyed mainly by the Manufacture of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Methanol Sector with a 30.9 per cent growth after an increase in LNG production to 1,032,050 MMBtu per day in Q4 2017 from 796,030 MMbtu per day in Q4 2016.
This was followed by the Construction Sector which grew by 15 per cent, Electricity and Water expanded by 11 per cent, and Oil and Gas Mining increased by 3.2 per cent in line with the increase in the natural gas production by 20.5 per cent – from 30.1 million cubic metres per day in Q4 2016 to 36.3 million cubic metres per day in Q4 2017.
On the other hand, the Services Sector recorded a contraction of 0.5 per cent y-o-y in the fourth quarter, after a 1.7 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
The decline was mainly due to a decline in Government Services by 4.1 per cent and Education Services by 7.9 per cent. Conversely, the Water Transport Sector registered a significant increase of 25.2 per cent, which corresponded with the growth in LNG exports.
The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Sector also decreased by 6.6 per cent due to a fall in the output of the Forestry and Fishery sectors. The decline in the production of round timber and bakau poles led to the decrease in the Forestry sector while the Fishery sector was affected by a fall in the activity of the capture industry.
On the positive side, Livestock and Poultry increased by 0.4 per cent as a result of higher production of cattle, goat and miscellaneous livestock.
GDP is a measure of the total value of goods and services produced in a particular period after deducting the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production.
The GDP full report for the Q4 2017 is available from JPKE’s website www.depd.gov.bn.
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