26.05.202601:22:53UTC+00Brunei Consumer Prices Rise for First Time Since October

Brunei’s consumer prices increased by 0.1% year-on-year in April 2026, reversing the 0.1% decline recorded in March and marking the first positive inflation reading since October 2025. The rise was driven in part by transport costs, which inched up 0.1% after a 0.4% drop in the previous month. Price pressures also intensified in several categories: food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.8% vs 0.6% in March), clothing and footwear (3.2% vs 2.3%), furnishings and household maintenance (0.8% vs 0.7%), health (0.4% vs 0.2%), and restaurants and hotels (0.5% vs 0.7%). Education inflation was unchanged at 0.3%.

By contrast, a number of components continued to see falling prices, including housing and utilities (-0.4% vs -0.3%), recreation and culture (-1.2% vs -2.2%), communication (-3.4% vs -3.5%), and miscellaneous goods and services (-0.5% vs -0.1%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.5% in April, rebounding from a 0.3% decline in March and posting the sharpest monthly increase since December 2024.