The Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) released its latest Business Sentiment Index (BSI) for February 2025, providing insights into economic confidence based on surveys for 500 micro, small, medium, and large businesses across 11 key sectors. This includes finance & insurance, oil and gas, agriculture, and health, among others. The Index covers various aspects including current and future business conditions, investment, employment, as well as costs of doing business, offering macroeconomic indicators and signaling where opportunities or challenges may arise across sectors.
The insurance sector posted a neutral BSI score of 50.0, indicating steady sentiment compared to the previous month. This places insurance in line with the manufacturing and real estate sectors, which also registered unchanged sentiment. In contrast, sectors like construction, health and education, and transport and communication all fell below the 50-point threshold, reflecting lower optimism and a potential slowdown in business activity. While the insurance sector's neutral sentiment suggests a stable but cautious outlook, the decline in optimism across multiple other sectors signals potential headwinds in Brunei's broader economy.
