Economy – Page 5 – Tshering Tobgay

Electric cars

June 27, 2009Economy, Nature

I drove an electric car last week. It was a Reva, an electric vehicle manufactured in India. The Department of Energy is currently testing the car on Bhutanese conditions. The Reva is small. In fact, it’s not much bigger than a golf cart. So it can fit only two adults – that’s the driver and one passenger. The car actually has rear seats, where you can squeeze two little children. But if you do, you won’t be able to find space for even small luggage. Only this, and yet the car costs Nu 450,000 without taxes. Theoretically, the Reva…

Corporate salaries – part 1

June 22, 2009Economy, Government

Two readers – Samdrups and Sharu – asked me for my views on our government’s recent announcement on corporate salaries. My views are simple. And they are straightforward. Government should not be involved in doing business. Yes, government should regulate businesses. But no, government should not interfere in how businesses are run. So our government’s decision to define the salaries of corporations – business entities, all of them – is wrong. First, consider the Druk Holdings and Investment Limited. DHI was established by His Majesty the King as an autonomous organization in order to promote “…the competitiveness of Bhutan’s…

Druk Air’s new route

June 19, 2009Economy

A few times in past, incoming Druk Air flights have been diverted to Bagdogra due to unfavourable weather conditions over Paro. Such diversions are generally unwelcome by passengers and crew alike as they are required to spend hours in Bagdora waiting for the weather to improve in Paro. Yesterday’s flight from Paro to Bagdogra was different. It was scheduled. And it was welcome. Bhutanese living in Phuentsoling and Samtse, and those who have work in Siliguri or Darjeeling will find Druk Air’s latest service to Bagdogra very useful. And as the only air service allowed to use Bagdogra as…

Good karma

April 9, 2009Economy, People

Coffee, many say, is the most popular beverage on earth after water. Yet good coffee is hard to come by in most places. But it is available in Thimphu, at Karma’s Coffee, located in the Zhamling Building somewhere above Hotel Phuntsho Pelri.Karma’s is owned and run by Karma Tenzin, Bhutan’s first barista, who spent about two years in Australia training to make good coffee. And he made a lot of it: about four to five hundred cups a day!Back home the pace is much slower. He makes only 40 to 50 cups of coffee a day. This, he claims,…

Improving public services

April 7, 2009Economy, Government

Many businessmen and women would have been delighted to hear our government’s assurances to start the one-stop service centre during BCCI’s annual general meeting last Friday. And they would have been pleased to know that our government is already acting on these assurances. Because, yesterday, according to BBS, our prime minister met with government secretaries to consider ways of reducing the administrative burden.Our government’s assurances and their immediate follow up came as especially good news to Dragyel Tenzin Dorjee. You see, Dragyel spent a year, running from pillar to post, to get permission to establish the Bhutan Institute of…

Connectivity for ICT businesses

April 6, 2009Economy

In my last entry I celebrated the government’s promise to make Bhutan an attractive destination for ICT businesses. I am truly excited at the prospects of using ICT to strengthen our economy, create much needed jobs and generated revenue, all while safeguarding our brand-image as a country that’s serious about gross national happiness.But yesterday I was reminded that our government will need to do a lot of work if ICT is to become a viable business in Bhutan. This is especially so if we want to attract foreign investment to spearhead the development of ICT businesses.What happened yesterday? I…

Attending to BCCI

April 4, 2009Economy

The Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry has just concluded its 24th Annual General Meeting. The gathering attracted some much needed attention for the private sector in general and the BCCI in particular.The minister of economic affairs addressed the AGM during its opening ceremony on Thursday, and encouraged the private sector to come up with new business ideas.On Friday, our prime minister also attended the meeting. And he spoke at length – for more than two hours, some say – to the business community about what the private sector can expect from our government. He reiterated our government’s promise…

BCCI’s new leaders

April 4, 2009Democracy, Economy

On Thursday, during its 24th Annual General Meeting, the Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industries elected Topgyal Dorji as its 5th president, and Chen Chen Dorji and Thinley P. Dorji as vice presidents.I offer my heartiest congratulations to the incoming president and vice presidents. The three unrelated Dorji’s have an important common mission: to force our government to get serious about private sector development.

Lazy banks

April 1, 2009Economy

My last entry provoked Zekom to exclaim: “…calling Bhutanese Banks conservative is a praise they don’t deserve. I’d call them lazy!”She is correct.Because our banks our lazy, money lenders are doing a thriving business throughout rural Bhutan, where our farmers are compelled to take loans at exorbitant rates. It’s common for money lenders to charge farmers interest rates of 5% per month, which works out to 60% per year!This, of course, is illegal. The Moveable and Immoveable Property Act (1999) stipulates that “… no lender other than a registered financial institution which has been duly licensed to engage in…

Banking on our banks

March 31, 2009Economy

Our banks continue to make generous profits. Last year, BNB made Nu 310 million, a whopping 124% over the previous year, and BOB made Nu 168 (see Kuensel article). Not bad, considering the size of our economy. And, considering that they’ve been consistently declaring very attractive dividends.How do banks make money? Primarily by paying depositors a certain interest rate, and charging borrowers a higher interest rate. And obviously, the larger the spread between the two rates, the bigger the profit that banks earn. But what about bad loans, loans that banks cannot recover? That’s the risk that banks take,…

Mobile banking

March 28, 2009Economy

Wouldn’t you be happy if you could get your bank balance on your cell phone instead of having to go all the way to the bank?Wouldn’t it be good if you could instruct your bank not to honour a cheque that you’d issued mistakenly?Wouldn’t you like it if your bank informed you every time money was withdrawn from or deposited to your account?And wouldn’t it be convenient if your bank reminded you when loan repayments were due?All this, and more, are available with the BNB’s mobile banking service which was launched yesterday. I’m excited about this new service, so…

The real Yangphel archery tournament

February 28, 2009Economy

Last year, Yangphel organized its biggest national archery tournament ever: 900 archers from all over Bhutan made150 teams and played a total of 180 matches over almost two months. The tournament commemorated a hundred years of monarchy and celebrated the coronation of our fifth Druk Gyalpo.Yesterday, Yangphel organized its annual internal archery tournament: 30 archers, all Yangphel employees, made six teams and played a total of five matches over two days. The final was played today. And, in true Yangphel style, prizes included television sets and cash.But to me, everyone – proprietor, management and employees – was a winner.…

Funny money?

February 12, 2009Economy4 Comments

For over a decade now, every time I’ve fueled up in Phuentsholing, I’ve asked the petrol pump cashier to exchange various amounts of Ngultrums for Indian Rupees. I’ve had little problems changing small amounts, like Nu 500. But for larger amounts, say Nu 5000, it would sometimes get difficult to change my money. I’ve rarely needed the Indian Rupees for my stay in Phuentsholing, yet I’ve made it a point to request for the informal currency exchange every time I visit our border town. I’ve developed this odd tradition to give me a very rough idea of the state…

Transforming our villages

February 10, 2009Economy, Villages

I am delighted that the agriculture minister is traveling to our dzongkhags to discuss the 10th Plan and to identify viable products that our villagers can make (read Taking the 10th plan to the people). If villagers and local leaders are fully involved in the process and genuinely accept his idea, our agriculture minister could bring about a true and sustained transformation of our villages. Well done. The following article, reproduced from the PDP manifesto, talks about how the One Village One Product movement could transform villages in Bhutan: Ohita is a small village in Japan’s southernmost island of…

Is the GDP in our GNH?

February 7, 2009Economy

Here’s some good news from the RMA: our GDP, which is about Nu 59 billion, grew by 21.4% in 2007 and increased per capita GDP to US$ 1900. Not bad. We now have the highest GDP per person in South Asia. But what does this mean?Do you contribute your share to the GDP? If you do, you would have contributed US$ 1900 worth of goods or services to the economy. And if you do that, you would earn US$ 1900 in one year. Now US$ 1900 is roughly Nu 95,000 which is about Nu 7,900 a month. Do you…