Central Bank of Brunei Darussalam publishes February Business Sentiment Index at 42.4 and revises methodology to use full 0 to 100 scale

The Central Bank of Brunei Darussalam has published Brunei Darussalam’s Business Sentiment Index for February 2026, showing the Current Business Conditions sub-index at 42.4, down from 55.2 in January and indicating more pessimistic business conditions. The one month ahead index stood at 53.1, pointing to expected improvement in March 2026. The release also introduces a revised methodology for the survey-based index, which covers around 500 businesses across 11 economic sectors, so that the BSI can now fully use the 0.0 to 100.0 scale while keeping 50.0 as the neutral threshold. The weaker February reading was attributed mainly to fewer operating days in a shorter month, several public holidays and reduced hours during Ramadhan, although some firms expected activity to pick up before festive celebrations. Investment sentiment remained positive, with the current month index at 65.5, one month ahead at 66.3 and three months ahead at 83.4. Employment was weaker in the current month at 46.2 but improved to 53.8 one month ahead, while costs were elevated at 66.9 in February and expected to ease to 47.8 in March. By sector, manufacturing at 62.5 and other private services at 52.0 were the only areas in optimistic territory, while health and education at 16.3, wholesale and retail trade at 31.0, hotels and restaurants at 33.2 and transport and communication at 33.5 were among the weakest. By business size, micro firms were optimistic at 55.4, while medium firms were at 48.6, small firms at 47.6 and large firms at 40.1. The methodology change does not alter the economic interpretation of past results, and historical BSI data will be recalculated under the revised approach and published in the Statistical Bulletin on the central bank’s website.