The role of trade in the economic diversification of Brunel Darussalam

Brunei’s intention to diversify the economy away from oil and gas had become a national development objective since the beginning of the third National Development Plan in 1975. There were two major policy initiatives to achieve this: the establishment of a ministry responsible for promoting and facilitating the non-oil industrial development in 1989 and the formation of an industrial development board in 1996. By evaluating the progress made in the development of non-oil trade, this thesis will be the first to analyse the Brunei diversification policy efforts using disaggregated trade data. The main finding is that there is evidence that economic diversification has taken place, although the process has not been rapid. The types of products that can be promoted as a strategy for the diversification policy and their potential markets have also been identified. These include garments, metal manufacturing and fish products. It is also found that there is a need for improvement in the competitiveness of these products.