His Majesty’s Kidu relief of nine months’ interest waiver, extension of the Druk Gyalpo Relief Kidu by another three months coupled with a 12-month loan deferment has come as a huge relief for an embattled private sector and the larger economy.
His Majesty has given us important time at two levels. One is in terms of preventing COVID-19 from spreading in the country and the other is financial time.
The important thing now is to use this important breather wisely to strategize and rejuvenate so that come next year you or your business is much better prepared.
The COVID-19, as terrible as it is, is not all bad news, especially for Bhutan.
The virus in its way has shown that countries with good leadership and a united people can do pretty well. It has shown that despite its small size, Bhutan has done well. This is an important natural resource or asset which cannot come in any GDP calculations.
So, for the near future, though the business outlook will continue to remain grim, Bhutan’s first and foremost must be on delaying the entry of local or community transmission into Bhutan.
This is because only those countries who do not have large scale community transmission can recover the fastest in the post COVID world.
So we have to continue being on our guard, otherwise we can get a double hit on our health and our economy.
The other important thing is to use the breather to adapt our economy, society and lifestyle to a virus that looks like it will stay around for a while.
Looking forward, we have to also prepare ourselves well for possible opportunities in a post COVID world and also the long term benefits of being a nation which has done well in handling the virus and the many lessons learnt out of it.
Time is the most valuable thing a man can spend. – Theophrastus.