| Danial Norjidi |

THE results for several international studies covering a range of topics recently released included Brunei Darussalam in their findings.

One such study was the Henley Passport Index, in which the passport of Brunei Darussalam was named as the 21st most powerful in the world, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 165.

Japan, Singapore and South Korea now hold joint top spot on the Henley Passport Index with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 189. In Southeast Asia, Singapore is the best performer in the region with Malaysia and Brunei trailing close behind.

Another recent study was the World Economic Outlook (WEO) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As was reported on April 13, according to the WEO, Brunei Darussalam’s economy is projected to grow steadily in the next few years. The gross domestic product (GDP) is slated to grow at 4.8 per cent this year, 6.6 per cent in 2020 and 2.2 per cent in 2024.

It was shared that the country’s GDP recorded a two per cent contraction in 2018 reversing its earlier forecast of 2.3 per cent as stated in its report in October last year.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) revealed earlier in April that Brunei will see its GDP grow by one per cent this year and 1.5 per cent next year (2020).

The ADB also estimated a one per cent contraction for Brunei’s economy last year reversing its 1.3 per cent growth.

The latest MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) was another study to include Brunei Darussalam.

In the GMTI, prayer places and the airport gained scores of 100 for Brunei Darussalam, which climbed one spot to 10th place among the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries.

As was reported on April 12, safety and restaurants were two other indicators where Brunei Darussalam shone, with the scores of 97 and 90, respectively.

On the whole, Brunei Darussalam is the seventh best destination in communicating to Muslim travellers among OIC member countries; and ninth place in terms of services (Halal dining, prayer places, airport, unique experiences and hotels). However, it was shared that more needs to be done in inbound economy, digital presence and connectivity.

For the ninth year in a row, Malaysia took the top spot in the MasterCard-CrescentRating GMTI, but for the first time, it is sharing that position with Indonesia. The GMTI 2019 report, which includes 130 destinations globally, gave both countries a score of 78.

The rest of the top 10 countries are Turkey (with a score of 75), Saudi Arabia (72), United Arab Emirates (71), Qatar (68), Morocco (67), Bahrain (66), Oman (66) and Brunei Darussalam (65).

Another recent study was the Digital 2019 report released by the social media management platform Hootsuite and global media agency WeAreSocial.

Brunei Darussalam ranked below the worldwide mobile banking average of 41 per cent while also ranking below the 37 per cent average global usage of mobile wallets according to the report.

Brunei Darussalam is among 13 countries globally with the highest social media penetration at 410,000 users or 99 per cent of its ‘eligible’ population (aged 13 and above).

The social media where Bruneians excelled was Instagram, and they became the most users per population numbering 220,000 (or 63 per cent of its population aged 13 and above).

According to the latest available data by the report, the total number of monthly active Facebook users in the Brunei Darussalam was 410,000, up by 11 per cent compared to in 2017. Of the number, 85 per cent of them accessed Facebook via mobile phones. It was also shared that 56 per cent of Facebook users in the country are male.

It was also noted that there are 360,000 mobile social media users in Brunei (82 per cent of its population aged 13 and above).