Economy – Tshering Tobgay

State owned enterprises

April 19, 2019Economy, Government, Media2 Comments

The Interim GovernmentLast year, during the election period, the Interim Government seems to have conducted a study of state owned enterprises and released a report that is critical of companies established by the former government. That’s okay. It’s good that the Interim Government was concerned whether “established protocol” was followed while establishing the new companies and recommended strategies to streamline the system. What’s not okay is the timing. The Interim Government seems to have taken up the issue of SOEs immediately after the primary elections ... that is after PDP lost. So I’m still wondering if SOEs would have…

Fueling growth

April 17, 2019Economy2 Comments

Everyone is talking about the Pay Commission's report. And I too will gradually join the conversation. To start, I wish to discuss the Commission's recommendation to increase fuel taxes. Everyone would remember 2013. The country was experiencing an economic crisis. In its efforts to address the critical shortage of Indian rupees, the central bank imposed a series of policies including restricting the supply of rupees; rationing rupees to Bhutanese traveling to India for business, studies, medical treatment or pilgrimage; closing bank accounts of Indian citizens; and suspending loans in several sectors. These policies did little to solve the rupee…

Code language

March 1, 2013Economy, Education5 Comments

What we, as a country, need to do to rescue the Thimphu Tech Park. Yes, it will take a full generation to get there. But that's why we must start immediately, with a sense of urgency. http://youtu.be/nKIu9yen5nc

Expensive talk

July 30, 2012Economy34 Comments

The Ministry of Agriculture says that the prices of local vegetables is increasing. They are right. In fact, the prices of local vegetables have not just increased; they have skyrocketed. Between this time last year and now, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, the price for local cabbages increased from Nu 37.43 to Nu 48.75. That's an increase of 30.25%. The price of local chillies increased from Nu 270 to Nu 300 or by 11.11%. And the prices of potatoes and beans have jumped by a massive 47.22% and 39.40% respectively. So what's driving the prices of local vegetables? …

Shopping for poi

July 13, 2012Culture, Economy1 Comment

Walk into a shopping mall, and you’ll be greeted by customers sampling various perfumes. Walk into the Norling Building in Changangkha, and you’ll also be greeted by customers sampling various perfumes. But there’s one big difference. The customers in the Norling Building, in Nado Poi shop to be exact, would be trying out different types of poi – traditional incense sticks for religious offerings. That, at least, is what I saw the other day. I went to Nado’s to buy some poi, and bumped into a group of Taiwanese tourists. They, like children in a sweetshop, were excitedly trying…

Taxing issues

July 2, 2012Economy, Government12 Comments

The National Assembly passed the Tax Revision Bill last week. The Bill is now with the National Council. The Council will discuss the Bill, but, because it is a “money bill”, the Council can only make suggestions and recommendations that the National Assembly may, or may not, chose to accept. (Last year, the Assembly did not accept any of the Council’s recommendations on the budget and tax revision bills. In fact, the Assembly just skimmed through the recommendations, barely discussing them.) The National Assembly has passed the Tax Revision Bill. But, we didn’t discuss it properly. After the Bill…

Responsible government?

June 20, 2012Economy66 Comments

"As the Honourable Members are aware, our balance of payments with India has been worsening and the RMA has been facing a severe scarcity of Indian Rupees..." That was the finance minister's opening line when he introduced the Tax Revision Bill in the National Assembly earlier today. Yes, our balance of payments with India is in bad shape. And we are facing a severe shortage of Indian currency. In other words, we face a rupee crisis. We have a crisis in our hands. And it's no point playing the blame game. We must work together - we must think…

Business on pedestrian day

June 19, 2012Economy34 Comments

The central secretariat complex outside the Tashichhodzong wore a deserted look on pedestrian day, this afternoon. No doubt, our civil servants were busy in their own offices, working, since they wouldn't be able to attend the otherwise unending number of meetings that plague our government. Norzin Lam, Thimphu's main street, also wore a deserted look this afternoon. I saw students walking home and taxis zipping around, but I saw little else. Shops were empty. And some, like these shops on upper Norzin Lam, were closed for business. There are many things wrong with pedestrian day. And one of the…

Real losers

June 17, 2012Economy, Government28 Comments

Does anyone know why the government insists on permitting only FCB to import vegetables? I don't. The prime minister had explained that only FCB would be provided Indian rupees to import vegetables as FCB would be able to buy in bulk and would not be motivated by profit, which would make prices come down. But vegetable prices have not come down. Instead, they've skyrocketed, because FCB's prices turned out to be much higher. Plus, a lot of their vegetables had turned bad even before they reached Thimphu. As a result, consumers paid higher prices, but received poorer quality, and…

Too good

May 31, 2012Economy, Government32 Comments

Yesterday’s economic forum was scripted and implemented to perfection. The forum, which was organised by GNHC and supported by the UNDP, was called “Macroeconomic Challenges, Opportunities and Policy Options for Bhutna” and held at the National Convention Centre. The forum was attended by the prime minister, cabinet ministers, senior civil servants and The forum was NOT attended by the governor of the Royal Monetary Authority and his two deputies. The CEOs of the financial institutions could not attend as they were summoned, by the RMA governor, for a separate meeting. The experts at the forum included Professor Joeseph Stiglitz…

Really important business

May 29, 2012Economy6 Comments

Doing business in Bhutan is already difficult. But it’s getting even more difficult. Each year, the World Bank publishes a “Doing Business” report in which they rank countries according to the “ease of doing business” in those countries. Here’s how our country has fared in their report over the last few years. In 2008, Bhutan was ranked 119 out of the 178 countries that the project studied. In 2009, we fell to 124 out of 181 countries. In 2010, we were placed at 126 out of 186 countries. In 2011, we plummeted to 146 out of 183 countries And…

More essential stuff

April 17, 2012Economy, Legislature21 Comments

In my previous post I had proposed that, “the government is getting ready to sell even more foreign currency from our reserves.” What if I am correct? What if the government is, indeed, preparing to sell foreign currency to alleviate the rupee crunch? If so, what is the procedure? Last year, four months ago, the government sold US$ 200 million of our foreign currency reserves. At that time, US$ 200 million worked out to Nu 10.3 billion, which in turn worked out to 14% of our GDP. That was, and is, a lot of money. But no one questioned…

Stop the bleeding

April 10, 2012Economy19 Comments

During their interview with BBS TV last week, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba and Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu went to great lengths to inform us that the so-called rupee crunch wasn’t a crisis. They told us that the situation was normal; that they’d been aware of it for a long time; and that they were in full control of it. They told us that we should not be worried, that we should not panic. And they warned us that any talk about a crisis “could be deliberate attempts to discredit the government.” I’m not one to worry needlessly. But I’m not reckless…

Thank you

April 4, 2012Economy, Government23 Comments

A couple of late meetings prevented me from watching TV last night. So I watched BBS TV’s rebroadcast this morning. In particular, I watched Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, the officiating prime minister, and Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, the finance minister, talk about the current economic situation. I thank the government for going on national TV to explain the ongoing currency situation to the public at large. The two ministers are our most experienced financial experts. The two of them have served as finance ministers for a combined total of 14 years, and as finance secretaries for more than 10 years. So…

Rupee statement

April 2, 2012Economy30 Comments

Some friends have suggested that I should use my YouTube account to incorporate a bit more audio-visual in this blog. I agree. Here is the statement I recently made on BBS TV urging the government to inform the people about the rupee situation. I'm happy to report that, according to BBS, the acting prime minister and finance minister will appear on TV tomorrow, Tuesday, 3 April. I've posted the English transcript of my statement after the video. Our economy is in a crisis. Just last year, the government was forced to sell US$ 200 million from the country’s…