“The minutes of board meetings will be disclosed only within RMA premises”
The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) has assured its utmost cooperation to the National Council (NC) and has agreed to provide required-documents and information to review the Indian Rupee (INR) shortfall.
The NC Chairperson Namgye Penjore directed the RMA governor to attend all meetings as and when required by the council’s economic affairs committee (EAC).
This NC move comes-to-light, after the EAC reported to the house on July 6, about the committee’s failure to submit a detailed economy report focused on the INR shortfall only because RMA was highly uncooperative.
The committee members justified that review of the INR crunch came to a standstill because RMA consistently denied to provide them the necessary support.
Numerous letters were exchanged between the central bank and EAC but failed to yield any result. In one of the letters, RMA responded it was not regular practice for central banks to externally share international operations documents.
The deputy chairperson of NC, Dr. Sonam Kinga suggested that the house immediately invoke chapter four, section 59 of the NC Act 2008, which authorizes NC chair to summon any person to attend the proceedings of the NC for the purpose of ‘giving evidence, provide information or produce documents in that person’s custody or control’.
RMA’s Deputy Governor Pushpalal Chhetri who attended the session cited health reasons for the governor’s absence. He assured on behalf of the governor that the central bank shall provide every support necessary.
However, he said minutes of the central bank’s board meetings which were one of the documents requested by EAC will be shared only within the premises of RMA. “The honorable council members or the secretary shall visit RMA office to review it as we cannot send it outside RMA,” he said.
“The board-papers are not only about INR, it includes other important information on international operations and the likes.”
The deputy governor said RMA has always provided information and will do so in future as well. “I look forward to clearing all doubts in the minds of EAC members,” he said.
Pushpalal also reiterated on the measures adopted by RMA including borrowings from India to clear debts in the aftermath of the INR shortfall.
He said, “monetary policy, fiscal policy and to some extent, trade policies has to be restructured”.
During the session, the EAC chairperson NC MP Rinzin Rinzin referred to the governor’s quotes in the media reports where he said that the NC ‘is acting against the law’.
He said, “The council has never breached any law and shall not”.
Rinzin Rinzin said his committee looks forward to working with the governor as soon as he recovers.
NC has every right to summon the people holding constitutional posts as the members of both the houses of parliaments represents Bhutanese people. The Bhutanese people have the right to know our financial positions through our MPs
and anybody defying should be reprimanded appropriately.