Moving on with Covid

SEPT 30,2010: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was impressed with Brunei's recently released Economic Blueprint. IMF said Brunei should continue to build on efforts to diversify the economy, further attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and enhance human capital and improve private employment.

IMF projected the country’s GDP at two percent this year and 2.6 percent next year.

It's quite a promising projection. I hope we could realize it considering these challenging times. I hope the authorities make public on how they are going to achieve it so as to instill confidence in this depressing time that the nation will survive and thrive.

We are aware of how serious are the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Brunei's efficiencies and effectiveness. The pandemic badly impacted the productivity and production capabilities of the country - across the board, in all sectors - at an individual level, family, community, the society as a whole.

So it would be refreshing and motivating to see, for example, the Legislative Council, convening 'online' on way forward, more public debates on living with Covid-19, and so on and so forth. The narratives now should be more on the way forward. What do you say?