HEADLINE STORIES

A few months ago, the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) had issued an audit report to the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH), saying that the former JDWNRH President Lhab Dorji had misappropriated Nu 6.441 million (mn) meant for the Patient Welfare Fund. The RAA report said that during the …

Under the category of fraud and corruption the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) has listed four issues against the Pendent Cement Authority Limited (PCAL) The PCAL had cases of its 3 employees working in the Finance and Procurement Division deploying vehicles registered in their names or in the name of their …

According to State of the Nation (SOTN) report, around 137,000 visitors are expected to arrive in 2025, which is around 44 percent of visitors in 2019. However, the spending is estimated to rise with SDF revenues reaching pre-COVID-19 level by the end of 2023. Similarly, from the 12,488 tourists in …

One of the biggest changes in the Civil Service Pay Restructure Bill passed by the Parliament is the Performance Based Incentive (PBI) where civil servants can get additional pay over their normal pay for good performance. The PBI is linked to national, organizational and individual performance and could be up …

On 25 November 2022, the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC), appointed the four Coordinating Secretaries to head the Committee for Coordinating Secretaries (C4CS) and the four clusters of Governance, Economic, Social and Security. The 4 Coordinating Secretaries and their areas The Governance Cluster will be headed by the Cabinet Secretary, …

In the recent Civil Service Pay Restructure Bill discussions in the Parliament, the National Assembly (NA) first inserted duty vehicles for MPs equivalent to Secretaries (Toyota Fortuner) mainly in response to their Nu 1.5 million (mn) Prado quota being removed. In return, they gave up their claim to the Nu …

With the Civil Service Reform Bill passing in both Houses of Parliament, an important provision in its section 35 states, ‘The Royal Civil Service Commission may recruit Civil Servants on contract if required in accordance with the Bhutan Civil Service Regulations.’ While RCSC already hires junior staff, teachers and others …

The National Council passed the Pay Structure Reform Bill of Bhutan 2022 today. One of the major changes was to do with the Duty Vehicles for MPs. The NC added a new section saying “Each Member of Parliament shall be provided a་designated duty vehicle, or a one-time lumpsum grant for …

The National Assembly passed the Tax Bill of Bhutan 2022 accepting most of the changes recommended by the National Council. The NA agreed to reduce the sales tax on movie tickets from 30% to zero though the NC had not recommended any specific number but only suggested a reduction. The …

One of the biggest changes in the Pay Structure Reform Bill 2022 passed by the National Assembly is that the MPs will be getting a 2,800 cc Duty Vehicle each, which will cost the exchequer around Nu 201 million (mn) to buy the vehicles tax free. The likely vehicle of …