The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued a map with a red line across southern Bhutan from Samtse to Samdrupjongkhar that will be Bhutan’s second line of defence against COVID-19 given the rising risks along Bhutan’s southern borders. The red line demarcates the high risk areas which are the whole …

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the government coffers taking a major revenue hit. Under the current economic circumstances, the Ministry of Finance has calculated that of the projected Nu 33.2 bn domestic revenue in 2020-21 Financial year it will meet only 30.4 bn which is a Nu 2.8 bn …

Food Inflation to keep rising The Ministry of Finance in a report to the government has said that even in the best case scenario of an ongoing lockdown the unemployment level in 2020 is expected to be 8.3 percent up from 2.7 percent in 2019. This would translate into 27,500 …

In response to the National Council asking for the ACC to validate if sections 54, 58 and 63 of the Anti Corruption Act of Bhutan 2011 (ACAB) had been violated in the government nominating Tenzin Lekphell as the next Secretary General of BIMSTEC, the ACC wrote back on 21st September …

As part of its larger recommendations to the government to boost economic activities in the backdrop of COVID, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) has pointed to the high cost of transport and the time taken as one of the key economic weaknesses of Bhutan. To overcome this, the MoEA …

Finance Minister says economy will recover to 1.3 % growth by June 2021 The Fiscal Incentives 2017 will be running out by 31st December 2020. The incentives which were originally brought in from 2010 are mostly tax breaks given to various sectors of the economy like services, manufacturing and others. …

The Finance Minister Lyonpo Namgay Tshering said that, the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) as the central bank and the Financial Institutions are working on monetary measures to ensure more liquidity. Lyonpo said that at the moment there is enough liquidity with around Nu 20 bn lying with the FIs. The …

Plans are also in place encourage mines, industries and trade In order to deal with the COVID-19 impact on the economy and enhance economic growth, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) will be leading efforts to remove various red tape, regulatory and licensing requirements to make it much faster and …

A major worry for the Financial Institutions (FIs) is its Non Performing Loans (NPLs) quite a few of which was even before the COVID-19 pandemic due to an economic slowdown, and now set to be worse when the loan deferral period is over in June 2021. The NPLs are also …

The Health Minister said that when it comes to Thimphu they have a general risk assessment criterion which looks at population, mobility, positive cases and containment measures. She said that of the four criteria Thimphu already fulfills three of them. Thimphu has high population with around 150,000 people all living …