Introduction: Brunei Darussalam’s Economy—Transition towards Development

Overview & Synopsis

The global economy is experiencing a major transformation which requires countries, specifically developing countries, to adopt new policies for economic development. Many developing economies need policies to cope with the emerging challenges of environmental change, technological revolution, the high volume of globalised trade and financial flows, cross-border labour movement, rising inequality, and frequent occurrences of economic crises and natural disasters. The United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) suggests that economic development should have a multidimensional context that includes economic, social and environmental aspects and not just income. Given the recent trends of globalisation, such development is also linked to regional and global factors. Although the development experience of some emerging economies since the 1990s suggests that the fast pace of economic reforms has led to high gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the benefits are not equally distributed. As a consequence, the notion of ‘development in transition’ (DiT) requires not only a mix of well-designed policies but also timely implementation, enforcement and monitoring of such policies, as well as international cooperation to ensure sustainable development and distribution of benefits on an equitable basis. This introductory chapter discusses the evolution of development models suggested in the literature and practised by developing countries. It then provides an overview of Brunei Darussalam’s transitions towards development. Finally, it presents a summary of all the chapters in this volume. The deliberations suggest that more commitments towards policy implementation would help the country achieve the targets set out in its Wawasan Brunei 2035 development blueprint.