Yesterday, the Finance Minister reported that Bhutan’s total debt outstanding is Nu 35,109.3 million. That’s about 56.7% of our GDP. In other words, every citizen owes Nu 64,000 of that debt. Or, assuming the average family has five members, every family would owe Nu 320,000. The good news is that most of that debt – [...]
Yesterday, the National Assembly approved the revised budget estimates for the financial year 2008-09. Like the previous year (see earlier entry), the last financial year also saw a huge difference between the approved budget and the most recent revised estimates. This time, however, the difference was completely on the other side of the spectrum – [...]
Today the finance minister presented the National Budget bill for the year 2009 – 2010. I’ll post a few entries on the status of our kingdom’s finances in the next couple of days. Following the Finance Minister’s presentation, the National Assembly discussed the first part of the report, the annual financial statement for the financial [...]
The first item on the National Council’s agenda today is Question Time. And they’ve summoned our finance minister to answer, in person, questions that have been sent to him ten days ago. I predict that our finance minister will not show up at the National Council. He will not respect their summons. Yes, we are, [...]
The previous poll, on our government’s performance, drew a record number of voters. 409 of you participated in the poll. And, 206 of you said that our government’s performance so far has been “good” or “very good”. That’s an impressive 64% approval rating. Not bad, indeed. But some of you were suspect. Which promoted one [...]
I made a brief statement on the PM’s state of the Nation address today in the National Assembly. What follows is a summary of what I said… Introduction I thank the Honourbale Speaker for allowing me to submit my views on the prime minister’s annual report on the State of the Nation to the Parliament. [...]
So the government cannot dictate the salaries of DHI employees. But what about the other corporations – those that are owned by the government, but are not part of DHI? Can the government set their salaries? Technically, yes. The government can dictate the salaries of these employees. This, in fact, was precisely what our previous [...]
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 [...]
Article 7.3 of our Constitution guarantees that “A Bhutanese shall have the right to information”. But read what Kuensel has to say about one reporter’s experience with Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu. If what Kuensel reports is even partially true, we should be seriously concerned .After all, this is not the first time that our government has [...]
The results on our last poll, on banning the sale of tobacco products, is in: of 210 voters, 199 (that’s 57%) think that prohibiting the sale of tobacco products is not a good idea; 83 of you (40%) would support the ban; and 8 voters don’t care either way. While those against the ban win [...]
Tshering Tobgay is a Member of Parliament representing Sombaykha Constitutency in Haa. He is the Leader of the Opposition Party in the National Assembly of Bhutan.
Is ACC taking too long to start investigating the Gyelpozhing land case?
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