Brunei sees 11.9 pct trade surplus growth in February

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Brunei recorded an 11.9 percent growth in trade surplus for February this year due to an increase in major exports.

Latest International Merchandise Trade Statistics released by the Department of Economic Planning and Development (JPKE) on Thursday showed that Brunei's trade balance for February this year rose to 364.9 million Brunei dollars (267.4 million U.S. dollars) from 326.2 million Brunei dollars in February of last year.

This was largely due to an increase in exports valued at 701.9 million Brunei dollars from 649.4 million Brunei dollars. Imports also slightly increased in the time frame to 337.0 million Brunei dollars from 323.2 million Brunei dollars.

Major exports (crude oil and LNG) for February 2019 accounted for 659.0 million Brunei dollars, up from 594.9 million Brunei dollars from the same month last year.

"Major exports increased by 10.8 percent in February 2019 (compared to February 2018). This was mainly due to increases in exports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 4.5 percent and 14.9 percent respectively," said the JPKE.

The highest share of exports in February 2019 went to Japan (51.2 percent), followed by Australia, Malaysia and India at 15.3 percent, 8.6 percent and 8.1 percent respectively.

The highest share of imports in February 2019 came from China accounting for 30.4 percent, followed by Malaysia (16.7 percent), Singapore (16.1 percent) and USA (7.3 percent).