The country’s biggest cement plant, Dungsam Cement Corporation Limited (DCCL) is facing a financial crisis in commissioning timely payments to its transporters and suppliers as the Corporation has not able to claim huge overdues from the contractors of the major Hydro Power Projects, Punatsangchu I and II and Mangdechu. DCCL’s …
Read More »Breaking: Dealers can import GST discounted vehicles but taxes to be levied at point of sale
The Ministry of Finance in a circular effective from 11th August 2017 has said that vehicle dealers in Bhutan can now import vehicles from India which have the Goods and Services Tax (GST) exemption. This would make cars theoretically cheaper in Bhutan by around 12 to 13 percent for smaller …
Read More »Additional delay and costs in Punatsangchu I and II after NGI report
The 1,200 MW Punatsangchu I and 1,020 MW Punatsangchu II is headed for more delay and cost escalations after a report by the Norwegian Geological Institute (NGI) recommended additional measures to strengthen the sliding right bank of P I, and approved the proposed works for the collapsed roof of the …
Read More »No GST discounts until RGoB agrees
Bhutanese businesses and consumers expecting a dramatic drop in the price of GST item goods like cars, electronic and machinery items and most consumer goods from India will not see it happen until Bhutan gives the go ahead to the Indian government. There is an official understanding between the two …
Read More »No vehicle taxes in the offing
With the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) reducing the loan limited from 50 to 30 percent to control the imports of vehicles and suggesting the government to come up with fiscal measures, the popular over night perception was that vehicles taxes are on the way. However, the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Dasho …
Read More »First ever national earthquake monitoring network installed
The Department of Geology and Mines under the Ministry of Economic Affairs has completed the installation of six seismic stations and twenty intensity meters in the country last month. The monitoring networks will help in providing information about the location and the magnitudes of the quake and help in assessing …
Read More »The systemic failures within BDBL that led to a Nu 576 mn fraud
While the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) report pinpointed the illegal and inflated term loans and Over Draft loans given by a Bhutan Development Bank Limited (BDBL) project officer, Pema Nidup, coming to around Nu 576 mn, questions remain about the system and lack of oversight that allowed this to happen. …
Read More »More than the Doklam issue, Bhutan worried about hydropower projects and trade
Some people say that Bhutan is an Indian ‘protectorate,’ which is not only an inaccurate assessment, but shows a lack of understanding of the increasingly complex and diversified nature of the relationship between the two countries. The Doklam standoff on territory claimed by Bhutan has gone on for a full …
Read More »Bhutan’s Hydro basket gets smaller as India becomes power surplus and tariff rates drop
From 2008 onwards the ‘10,000 MW by 2020’ was projected as the solution to all of Bhutan’s economic woes, and the main basis by which Bhutan would become economically self sufficient. The basis being India’s perennial power shortage and the huge expected demand of the future. It was for this …
Read More »Nu 355 mn in remittances from 1,500 youths in Middle East in last 18 months
Remittances from Bhutanese youth working in the middle-east was around Nu 204 million last year according to records maintained by the Bhutan Postal Corporation Limited which is the only agency that operates Western Union, the international money transfer and payment services, in Bhutan. Most of the remittances came from the …
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The Bhutanese Leading the way.