Economy

Home to 3.6m people spread over 19,016 sq km, Malaysia’s most southerly state, Johor, has long played a key political and economic role in the country’s development. On the Strait of Malacca and sharing a border with Singapore, it has the country’s busiest trans-shipment hub and benefits from its position at the crossroads of some of the world’s most important trading routes. Over the past...

This chapter contains a guide to the Sultanate’s best hotels and apartments, telephone numbers for ministries, embassies and other important institutions, and useful information for first-time visitors to the country.

One of the largest exporters of oil and gas in South-east Asia, Brunei Darussalam has long benefitted from its strong trade relationships with Japan, China and its ASEAN neighbours, building a robust trade surplus in the years to 2014 on the back of rising exports and elevated petroleum prices. The oil market’s mid-2014 turnaround has had a dramatic impact on the Sultanate’s trade balance,...

A high-income country with vast petroleum wealth, robust fiscal reserves and a small, highly- educated population, Brunei Darussalam is unique among the ASEAN community. Oil and gas resources have generated high per-capita income, although the economy has contracted in recent years as a result of falling oil and gas prices, which account for more than 90% of export revenues. Although...