Brunei allots 306 mln USD for proposed stock exchange

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Brunei earmarked a total of 414.7 million Brunei dollars (306.3 million U.S. dollars) to finance the establishment of the sultanate's stock exchange, of which 22 million Brunei dollars has been included in the Ministry of Finance and Economy's proposed budget for 2019/2020 fiscal year.

At Wednesday's session of the Legislative Council, Minister at the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister of Finance Hj Mohd Amin Liew said the amount allotted this year for the development of the sultanate's capital market forms part of the ministry's proposed budget of 814.1 million Brunei dollars for the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

"When this stock exchange is ready, we can decide which companies will be listed in the stock exchange," Liew said.

No timeline for the launch of the stock market was provided, but the finance minister said that the bourse is currently in its "improvement stage."

Developing the infrastructure and players, as well as market research, takes time, he noted.

Trading rules and regulations will also need to be introduced, he said.

Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam, Brunei's central bank, has said that the stock market will embrace best practices and international standards to enable interconnectivity with the global markets and aims to bring in international investors and businesses.

Meanwhile, Liew said that 63 million Brunei dollars of the proposed budget will be spent on the wages of the ministry's employees, while 591 million Brunei dollars is listed under miscellaneous expenditures.