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THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2020 Home 3
Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd (Hengyi) contrib-
uted medical supplies to schools in Mukim
Serasa on July 7 and yesterday as part of the
company’s corporate social responsibility
(CSR), to help schools for the return of stu-
dents as part of Phase 3 of the de-escalation
plan. The donation comprised 10,000 masks,
1,000 pairs of gloves and three thermom-
eters, a press release stated yesterday.
Corporate Communication Executive at
Hengyi Pengiran Yura Masraniwaty binti Pen-
giran Yura Perkasa presented the donations
to the principals and staff of Meragang Sixth
Form Centre, Pengiran Isteri Hajjah Mariam
Secondary School, Kapok Primary School,
Serasa Primary School, Sultan Umar Ali
Saifuddin Muara Primary School and Tentera
Laut Diraja Brunei Primary School.
Legislative Council member and Acting
Penghulu of Mukim Serasa and Village Head
of Kampong Masjid Lama, Pekan Muara, Sabun
and Pelumpong Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji
Mohamed bin Pengiran Haji Osman @ Othman
was also present.
Medical supplies donated to schools
Wani Roslan
Agrobiz’s Sembada 188 Rice was launched at
the YES Centre of Institute of Brunei Technical
Education (IBTE) Business centre yesterday.
The Sembada 188 Rice was produced by
10 students of the —irst cohort of IBTE Agro-
Technology Campus (ATC). The students
experienced advanced technologies of rice
farming, farm management, several high-
tech technologies in the —ields of cultivation,
preservation and production, including the
use of drones, water-drilling techniques,
introduction of paddy-drying methods and
the processing of rice including automatic
base packing.
They also underwent entrepreneurial
programmes such as Bright Ideas, Serial
Business Plans, Leadership Camps and
visioning workshops from LiveWIRE Brunei.
Permanent Secretary (Higher Education)
at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman
bin Ahmad launched the Sembada 188 Rice
Agrobiz as the guest of honour.
Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd (BSP)
In-Country ValueManager and Chairperson of
LiveWIRE Brunei Hajah Rosita binti Haji Hassan
presented Agrobiz’sSembada 188 Rice to IBTE
Chief ExecutiveOf—icer Dr Haji MohdZamri bin
Haji Sabli.
Dr Haji Mohd Zamri underlined that
the project was expected to run for three
years and has been extended to —ive years
taking into account the time to prepare
the paddy plantation site. “It is expected to
provide 10 cycles of paddy production and
subsequently produce 100 agropreneurs to
develop commercial scale farms as well as
sustainable supply chain for competitive rice
production,” he said.
He said the Sembada 188 variety was
used for the Agrobiz Paddy Sembada 188
project. It was planted by machine and is
pesticide-free. The project produced its —irst
output which was harvested on February 18.
The Sembada rice produces some 8.5 metric
tonnes per hectare.
“The project intends to contribute some of
the rice output of Agrobiz to families in need
as part of the corporate social responsibility
(CSR) initiative in the future,” he said.
Hajah Rosita said the Agrobiz Project
is a collaboration between BSP through
LiveWIRE Brunei with IBTE ATC under the
Paddy Plantation Pilot project to increase rice
production in the country.
“BSP invested over BND3 million to
provide a complete ecosystem for rice
production and sale of rice,” she said.
Hajah Rosita said the highest production
recorded was 8.3 MT/ha on the —irst harvest.
“Our rice is high quality, pesticide-free and
strengthened with sustainable farming
using natural and organic materials,”
she said.
Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education Dr Haji Azman bin
Ahmad, Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd (BSP) In-Country Value Manager and Chairperson
of LiveWIRE Brunei Hajah Rosita binti Haji Hassan and IBTE Chief Executive Of†icer Dr Haji
Mohd Zamri bin Haji Sabli in a group photo. PHOTO: BAHYIAH BAKIR
“Our tagline ‘Our Commitment to People
and Planet’ is not for rice product from
Agrobiz, but as an identity of the project
which applied to all aspects of rice cultivation
and production. The Agrobiz project
prioritises the future of our young farmers
while maintaining environmental harmony,”
she said.
The main objective of the project is to
revitalise the young farmer’s programme
by adopting new approaches, especially
in producing trained agropreneurs
in agro-technology. The project aims
to contribute towards the national
strategy of ensuring food security in the
country with the goal of reaching 30 per
cent of its output in producing paddy
by 2025.
The local Sembada 188 Rice is pesticide-
free and vacuum packed.
Rice produced by students launched
Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD)
noted that the global economy is expected to
decline by 4.9 per cent in 2020. The domestic
economy grew by 3.9 per cent year-on-year
in 2019. AMBD’s in—lation forecast for 2020
has been revised up to the range of one to
two per cent.
Despite heightened uncertainties due to
the COVID¦19 pandemic, the banking sector
continued to exhibit resilience in the —irst quar-
ter of 2020. AMBD has been in active engage-
ment with key stakeholders including the Min-
istry of Finance and Economy (MoFE) and the
Brunei Association of Banks (BAB) to address
the impacts of the pandemic on the economy.
A set of interim measures was introduced
with the objective of alleviating the —inancial dis-
tress faced by local businesses and individuals.
This was stated in AMBD’s bi-annual
policy statement for the —irst half of 2020
published yesterday.
AMBD continues to ensure that there
is suf—icient liquidity to support the well-
functioning of the —inancial system through
the expansion of liquidity management
measures to banks in Brunei Darussalam.
As part of AMBD’s commitment to improve
the supervisory regime for the protection of
insurance/ Takaful policyholders in Brunei
Darussalam, three notices and guidelines
were issued in Q1 2020. This included
guidelines on developing a recovery plan for
insurers and Takaful operators, guidelines
on online distribution for insurers and
Takaful operators and guidelines on surplus
distribution by Takaful operators.
AMBD also issued a Notice on Providing
Market Access to a Foreign Market for
Capital Markets Services Licence holders
on November 4, 2019. In implementing
the risk based supervision framework
for the supervision of the capital market
intermediaries, AMBD completed a second
onsite inspection using the risk-based
methodology in Q1 2020.
Initiatives under the Digital Payment
Roadmap for Brunei Darussalam 2019¦2025
are being implemented which call for the
establishmentofaPaymentHubinfrastructure
to enable customers to make instant digital
payments. To ensure the aims of the project
align with national initiatives, engagement
with relevant stakeholders such as the Digital
Economy Council is continuously made.
With the issuance of the Notice on
Banks’ Recovery Plan on December 20,
2019, banks are required to submit their
recovery plans to AMBD not later than
September 30, 2020. This is to ensure banks’
preparedness in remaining resilient in periods
of distress.
AMBD will continue to monitor the
development of the COVID¦19 situation
and engage with —inancial institutions to
ensure the well-functioning of essential
—inancial services. AMBD is ready to
implement additional measures, as and when
necessary, to safeguard the —inancial stability
of country.
The public may view the Policy Statement
1/2020 on the AMBD website at ww.ambd.
AMBD publishes policy statement for 2020
Legislative Council Member Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Mohamed bin Pengiran Haji Osman
@ Othman and Corporate Communication Executive at Hengyi Pengiran Yura Masraniwaty
binti Pengiran Yura Perkasa present a donation to a Pengiran Isteri Hajjah Mariam Secondary
School representative. PHOTOS: HENGYI
Yang Berhormat Pengiran Haji Mohamed and Pengiran Yura Masraniwaty in a group photo at
Kapok Primary School