The Bhutanese Leading the way.
With the Department of Trade (DoT) making no headway in getting the break up of the fuel prices charged to Bhutan a senior official said that the government will have to pursue the matter officially if the oil companies do not give the break up.
The senior official said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs is pursuing to get more details on the fuel pricing break up using all sources possible.
The DoT after months of efforts could not get the break up costs to Bhutan to find out ‘what we are paying and why we are paying’ much more than the base price of fuel imported from India since we do not have pay central and state taxes in India which make up around 50% of the oil cost in India.
This paper has pointed out that not only are we paying much higher than the base rate in India by Nu 30 to 20 but we are also paying much more than Nepal at Nu 12 to 11.
A source said that informally the indication is that there will be some kind of response in some time.
An official said that they are hopeful that the Government of India will step in a timely manner to clarify and resolve issues if there are any anomalies so that the pricing is fair and transparent.
Bhutan imports around Nu 8 bn of petrol and diesel a year form India making it Bhutan’s largest import.
