B R U N E I E C O N

We thank the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics (DEPS) and the Treasury Department at the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) and the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism (MPRT) for sharing the data used in this Update. [...] The negative y/y 12 growth was due to a decline in the oil and gas sector (-8.6 10 percent) and the services sector (-3.0 percent). [...] The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the price of a fixed basket of goods and services, is widely used to monitor changes in the general level of consumer prices, or in other words, the rate of inflation. [...] In this special feature, we examine the inflation experienced by two sets of households— the 20 percent with the lowest incomes and the 20 percent with the highest incomes—to assess the differential impact of the recent price spikes. [...] The inflation rate for the poorest 20 percent averaged 1.3 percent from March 2020 to February 2021, and 1.5 percent for the richest 20 percent over the same period.