FIAB head not in favour of collateral free loans or lowering of loan interest rates A major concern of the private sector and to an extent the Financial Institutions (FIs) has been the availability of liquidity or money to lend out so that economic activities can continue or start in …

The understanding so far has been that only the southern border areas are high risk zones but the Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said it covers the other areas adjacent to the border too. He said all the inhabitants adjacent to the international boundary will be considered high risk and …

More budget to be allocated for both in the 5-year plan and annual budget along with reforms One of the major outcomes of the COVID-19 crisis is that the government is planning major investments and far reaching changes and reforms in Education and Health.  Lyonchhen Dr Lotay Tshering said, “For …

The PM says that after the Coronavirus the next biggest worry is unemployment With the economy taking a series of continuous hits from the stoppage of tourism in March, with the detection of the first case, to the recent lockdown, the Prime Minister has now outlined a four-point formula to …

Among the biggest learnings of the recent national lockdown, one was firstly on how to do lockdowns in the future to minimize the economic cost and inconvenience and secondly to prevent repeated and long national lockdowns. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said there are a lot of invaluable lessons learnt …

His Cabinet colleagues and key staff across the 10 ministries also stayed away from family with ministers in a guest house and officers camped in the ministries Unknown to many, while the nation was in lockdown at home, the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, senior officials and key staff across the …

Tenzin Lekphell is all set to be the next Secretary General of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) after he was nominated by the government as its appointee and it was accepted by the Foreign Secretaries of the member countries. The Foreign Ministers need to …

If the economy was in a bad enough condition with the COVID-19 measures, the nearly one-month lockdown has put it in a deep freeze. The Finance Minister Namgay Tshering and his core team in Paro are racking their brains, going through a lot of data and coming up with important …

Domestic tourism plan also being drawn up The Tourism Industry and the tourism season is dead for the entire 2020, but there is some hope in 2021 as the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) is working on and proposing the concept of ‘Bubble Tourism’. A TCB official, on the condition …

Expect big cuts in expenditure and reworking of the 12th plan too The three-week national lockdown is not only having an impact on the private sector, but it is also playing havoc with government’s revenue target and hence its finances. The Finance Minister Namgay Tshering said that the tax revenue …