It is an open secret that larger than usual numbers of civil servants have been resigning in recent times with a record 1,023 civil servants voluntarily resigning from July 2021 to June 2022. However, the popular misconception is that this has been happening only in the last 12 months or …
Read More »Bhutan looks to work with Australian banks to make it easier and cheaper to send remittance
In early 2021 all the Australian banks informed their Bhutanese counterpart banks that they could no longer be the Correspondent Banks for the Bhutanese banks. A banker on the condition of anonymity said that the Australian banks found that the business generated by the Bhutanese banks was too small and …
Read More »Two ministries proposed to be done away with and a new one created
The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) led the reorganization of the civil service agencies along with a group of executives, and has come up with proposals aimed at bringing about a lot of changes in the structure of the 10 ministries and other agencies. The changes The main proposal is …
Read More »Some tour operators start to sell cheaper packages inclusive of USD 200 SDF
With tourism opening in Bhutan on 23rd September 2022, under the new USD 200 Sustainable Development Fee (SDF), there are already Bhutanese tour operators selling discounted packages after paying the SDF. Discounted package For example, a tour operations company in Nepal that sells tour packages for a Bhutanese tour operator …
Read More »Finance Minister writes to RMA asking for changes in Monetary Measures
In the second meeting between the government, private sector and Financial Institutions on monetary measures, the entire Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) team was absent. The RMA instead had sent a note to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) either shooting down all the requests put forth by the private sector in …
Read More »Bhutanese Embassy in Australia plays a bridging role
With around 12,000 to 15,000 Bhutanese in Australia and growing, and the largest source of remittance, the importance of the Bhutanese community in Australia and the country of Australia itself cannot be understated. This is where the Royal Bhutanese Embassy in the capital city of Canberra comes into play as …
Read More »Understanding the Australia Rush and the ground realities there
Bhutanese community leaders meet and discuss in Perth The USA may have experienced the California Gold Rush in the mid 19th century, but Bhutan is experiencing its very own ‘Australia Rush’ that started as a trickle around a decade ago, but is now a mighty and roaring river. The city …
Read More »RCSC clarifies its new rules
Certain provisions of the Royal Civil Service Commission’s (RCSC) new rules for civil servants called Rules for Administrative Disciplinary Actions (RADA) that limit the ability of civil servants to share information or express themselves has set the cat among the pigeons not only among civil servants, but also media professionals. …
Read More »Committee studying a ‘Clean Wage’ system for Bhutan
As part of the larger reforms a committee in the Ministry of Finance is studying the concept of ‘Clean Wage,’ system that provides a comprehensive pay package free of allowances, both open and hidden. The aim is to bring in transparency, motivate the civil servants and also change their behavior …
Read More »MoF slashes short-term trainings and consultancy budget by Nu 1.4 bn
If the two most wasteful budget heads can be identified under the annual budget head of the government then they would probably be the short term trainings or conferences in luxury hotels in Paro and Punakha where the outcome is usually questionable, and also the endless number of consultants hired …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.