Brunei Darussalam’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate declined by 2.1 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021.
This was due to a decrease in the Oil and Gas sector by 4.7 per cent. However, the Non-Oil and Gas sector recorded an increase of 0.9 per cent, revealed the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics in a statement.
The sultanate’s GDP at current prices was valued at BND$4.7 billion compared to BND$4.0 billion in Q2 2020.
The Oil and Gas sector, comprising of oil & gas mining and manufacture of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), accounted for 50.6 percent of the total gross value added (GVA).
Meanwhile, the Non-Oil & Gas Sector, which includes downstream activities such as the manufacture of petroleum and chemical products, contributed 49.4 percent.
The decline in the Oil and Gas sector was due to a decrease in the production of crude oil from 118.3 thousand barrels per day in Q2 2020 to 111.1 thousand barrels per day in Q2 2021.
Natural gas production also recorded a decrease from 34.3 million cubic metres per day in Q2 2020 to 31.5 million cubic metres per day in Q2 2021.
In addition, LNG production declined from 910,974 MMBtu per day to 852,689 MMBtu per day during the same period.
The reduction in crude oil and natural gas production was due to shutdown turnaround activities.
Meanwhile, the LNG production decline due to limited gas supply and maintenance activities at one of the LNG plant facilities.
Furthermore, the growth in the Non-Oil and Gas sector was mainly due to the increase in the subsector of Wholesale and Retail Trade which contributed by an increase in the domestic demand due to the travel restrictions which remain effective to prevent the spread COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Aidilfitri celebrations in mid May 2021.
The increase in this subsector was also in line with the increase in retail sales driven by the sales of Department Store, and Textiles, Wearing Apparel & Footwear.
This was followed by the increase in the Electricity and Water Subsector mainly due to the rise in electricity production in line with an increase in electricity consumption of commercial, public and industry.
The performance of the Restaurant Subsector in Q2 2021 was also encouraging in line with increase in the domestic demand as the travel restrictions remain effective.
The Health Services subsector also increased in line with the increase in both government and private health services activities.
In addition, the Agriculture, Forestry & Fishery sector also recorded an increase of 12.9 per cent in Q2 2021 which was due to an increase in the production of subsectors such as Fishery, Livestock & Poultry and Forestry.
The increase in fisheries activities was due to the capture and aquaculture industry. The rise in the production from the small-scale fisherman has led to the growth in the capture industry.
Meanwhile, farm prawns were the main contributor to the increase in aquaculture industry.
In addition, an increase in livestock & poultry activities was associated with an improvement in the production of buffalo meat, goat meat, broiler, and eggs.
The increase in round timber production was a major contributor to the growth in the forestry subsector.
By expenditure approach, negative GDP growth was mainly due to a decrease in the external demand (exports of goods and services) by 10.9 per cent.
However, this growth was moderated by the increase in the domestic demand such as Government Final Consumption Expenditure by 2.6 percent, Gross Capital Formation (particularly private investment) by 12.7 percent and the Household Final Consumption Expenditure by 13.9 percent.
GDP for Q1 2021 has also been revised to negative 0.8 per cent at constant prices from the negative growth of 1.4 per cent released previously considering data revisions from source agencies.
Gross domestic product (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 Second Quarter of 2021 is available from DEPS’s website: www.deps.gov.bn.
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
