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PRESS/TPRB/296 
25 February 2008 
 
(08-0796) 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: BRUNEI DARUSSALAM 
A prosperous, relatively open ec onomy still overly dependent on 
oil and gas 
Brunei Darussalam is a small, relatively open economy that has intensified its participation in 
regional trade agreements and has reduced tariffs to low levels although there is still a large gap between applied and bound MFN rates. In several trade-related areas – notably TRIPs, customs 
procedures, telecommunications and standards — Brunei has made significant improvements to its 
regulatory framework since the previous review, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the 
trade policies and practices of Brunei Darussalam. 
 
The country owes its prosperity to its abundant petroleum (oil and gas) resources whose share of GDP stood at 69% in 2006 accounting for 96% of exports and 94% of Government revenue. This 
leaves Brunei vulnerable to external shocks, pa rticularly given the prospect of an eventual 
depletion of these resources probably over the next couple of decades.  
The Government has faced the challenge and has been encouraging economic diversification, 
mainly into manufacturing and services, especially financial services, tourism and transport, but despite the provision of investment incentives for the private sector success in achieving this goal 
has been slow so far. 
 The report also notes that lack of transparency and public accountability in government policies 
might adversely affect the aim of encouraging foreign investment. 
 The WTO Secretariat report, along with a po licy statement by the Government of Brunei 
Darussalam, will be the basis for the second TPR of Brunei Darussalam by the Trade Policy Review 
Body of the WTO on 25 and 27 February 2008.  
The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp296_e.htm  
 
• Secretariat reports 
> Contents and summary observations  > Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  PRESS/TPRB/296 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
 > Trade policies and practices by measure  
> Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  
• Report by Government of Brunei Darussalam 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO Agreement, in which member 
countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Madagascar: 2 and 4 April 2008 
Mauritius: 23 and 25 April 2008 
China: 21 and 23 May 2008 
 For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews  
 
END