The Central Bank of Brunei Darussalam published Brunei Darussalam’s Business Sentiment Index (BSI) for December 2024, based on a survey of around 500 businesses across 11 economic sectors and all districts. The headline Current Business Conditions sub-index was 50.0, indicating broadly unchanged conditions versus November 2024, while the one-month-ahead reading rose to 50.4, signalling a modest improvement in expectations for January 2025. Across components, the Investment sub-index was 50.1 in December 2024, with one-month-ahead and three-month-ahead readings at 50.0 and 50.1, respectively. Employment was 50.2 for the current month and 50.3 one month ahead, while Costs registered 50.2 for December but eased to 49.9 one month ahead. Sectorally, two of 11 sectors were optimistic for current business conditions, led by Transport & Communications (50.7) and Manufacturing (50.1), while five were pessimistic including Health & Education (49.2), Other Private Services (49.9), Finance & Insurance (49.9), Construction (49.8), and Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Livestock (49.7); the remaining sectors recorded neutral readings of 50.0. By business size, micro, small, medium and large firms all reported 50.0 for current conditions. The release reiterates that readings above 50 indicate expansion relative to the previous month and provides time-series charts for the BSI and sub-indices since August 2020, alongside methodology notes on the central bank’s website.

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