While Brunei’s economy is not heavily exposed to the global capital markets, the 2008/2009 global financial crisis did impact on Brunei. Although the country’s banks were also well placed to manage any period of economic difficulty, the country was definitely not isolated from what was happening globally. The fall in oil prices triggered by the global economic crisis and subsequent decline in energy production saw Brunei’s GDP contract by almost 2% in 2008 and again fell in 2009. The economy recovered sufficiently for GDP growth to be positive again by 2010, returning an annual growth rate of nearly 3% and up by 2% in 2011. Growth was in part due to more favourable external conditions and the large fiscal and current account surpluses built up in recent years. The IMF estimated that Brunei’s GDP had grown by 2.7% growth in 2012. At the same time it forecast growth of less than 2% in 2013. - See more at: http://www.budde.com.au/Research/Brunei-Darussalam-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband.html#sthash.56W7muXq.dpuf