Consumer prices in Brunei declined by 0.05 percent year-on-year in March 2019, slowing from a 0.2 percent drop in the previous month and marking the third straight month of fall. Cost of food & non-alcoholic beverages fell by 0.5 percent, much softer than a 0.9 percent drop in February. Meanwhile, cost picked up for both transport ((0.6 pct vs 0.1 percent) and recreation & culture (2.6 percent vs 1.6 percent). At the same time, prices continued to drop for housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (-3.3 pct vs -0.7 percent); furnishing, household equipment & routine maintenance (-0.3 pct vs -0.7 percent); and clothing & footwear (-0.2 percent vs 0.7 percent). On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.5 percent in March, following a 0.2 percent gain in February. Inflation Rate in Brunei averaged 0.53 percent from 2007 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 3.59 percent in October of 2008 and a record low of -1.60 percent in December of 2016.
Inflation Rate in Brunei is expected to be -0.20 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Inflation Rate in Brunei to stand at 0.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Brunei Inflation Rate is projected to trend around 1.00 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.