A leaked copy of a draft Clean Wage Document sent by the Ministry of Finance (MoF) to the Ministry of Education (MoE) in April 2022 gives an idea of what the 5th Pay Commission is working on as part of the Clean Wage reforms for the civil service. A recent …

The doing away of the Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) and the transfer of its various divisions to the Cabinet, Ministry of Finance and Center of Bhutan and GNH Studies has raised questions on how these agencies will play the key planning, policy vetting and coordination role of the erstwhile …

One of the hotly discussed topics these days both in the social media and media is the deteriorating Ngultrum and INR parity rate in Jaigaon reaching around 7% against the Nu which means Nu 107 is equivalent to around INR 100. There have been constant requests from traders in Jaigaon …

In mid August there was a lot of unhappiness as the Passport Office under the Foreign Ministry ran out of passports due to unprecedented demand and started issuing travel documents. It was said then that the passports are expected to come by the end of October 2022 as per the …

In a first, the popular Voice of Nepal singing competition welcomed its first Bhutanese contestant, 22-year-old Ryhaan Giri, who performed barefoot on stage during the blind audition round on 9 September 2022, winning both the hearts and respect of the Nepalese musical judges and the mass audience that follows the …

The Druk Punjab National Bank (PNB) has stopped giving the special education loans for students aspiring to go to Australia. This comes a few weeks after the Tashi Bank had also stopped the same. T-Bank had to stop its education loan after exceeding the RMA rules that forbids any bank …

The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) in a recent notification to all Financial Institutions (FI) has laid down strict new guidelines for Non Performing Loans (NPL). An NPL is a loan which has not been paid for 90 days or more. As per the RMA order if anybody enters NPL then …

Integrated Business Licensing Service system to bring all regulatory bodies, 20 Dzongkhags, 4 Thromdes and agencies into one platform so that business licenses applicants don’t need to run around for clearances For business people, big or small, one of the main headaches is getting a business license and renewing it …

Some Civil Servants and the Private sector worry about its impact on grants, capacity building, business investments, and idea sharing In a three-year time period from 2017 to 2019 various government organizations invited 11,856 people as official guests waving off the need for them to pay the USD 65 SDF. …

The Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji was on an official visit to Australia from September 10 to 16.  However, soon after the visit there were widespread rumors on social media in Bhutan accusing the Foreign Minister of having asked the Australian government to discourage Bhutanese being given visas.  Though there was no proof …