budget – Tshering Tobgay

About relief

July 14, 2012Government, Monarchy29 Comments

Consider this: His Majesty the King issued a Kasho yesterday granting Nu 200 million towards the reconstruction of the Wangduephodrang Dzong. Nu 100 million was granted from the armed forces, and Nu 100 million from His Majesty's Kidu Foundation. Now consider this: The government has allocated Nu 20 million per year to the Druk Gyalpo's Relief Fund until the balance reaches a ceiling of Nu 100 million. The Relief Fund was passed by the Parliament in the last session. Nu 20 million per year is woefully inadequate. I said so in the Parliament. And I wrote about it. How…

Perks and peeves

March 21, 2012Government17 Comments

Two years ago, I had been surprised to hear that the cabinet had issued each minister with an additional car, a Wagon R. I had been surprised because that additional perk does not feature in the government's approved list of "Entitlements of Cabinet Ministers and Equivalent Posts", and because the additional expense had not been declared when the budget was discussed in the Parliament. Now I'm surprised to hear that each minister has been receiving "an allowance for cooks and housekeepers from the cabinet". I'm surprised because this perk is not part of the government's approved list of "Entitlements of…

More local government

July 6, 2011Local Government3 Comments

The elections for local government are over. So soon, and for the first time, we will have local governments – thromde tshogdes, gewog tshogdes and dzongkhag tshogdus – elected and empowered by the Constitution according to which: Power and authority shall be decentralized and devolved to elected Local Governments to facilitate the direct participation of the people in the development and management of their own social, economic and environmental well-being. The local governments that were recently elected will serve for five years. But the first elected parliament and the current government have less than two years left in office.…

All is not well

July 5, 2011Government5 Comments

The government’s final accounts for 2009-10 show that 22% of the approved budget was unutilized. Of that about 7% was for current expenditure. And a whopping 33% was money budgeted for capital expenditure. But it’s not just last year, accounts for 2008-09 show that the government did not utilize 35% of the capital budget. The government has a range of excuses for the huge deviation between funds budgeted and funds utilized. They point out that it is not always possible to predict when donor funds that have been committed are actually made available. They complain about the continued shortage…

Inappropriate

June 23, 2011Government, Local Government3 Comments

The Budget Appropriation Bill for 2011-12 proposes how Nu 42,174 million of the government's Consolidated Fund will be divided during the coming financial year. Central agencies will keep a good 74% of the funds. The 20 dzongkhags together will get about 20% of the funds. And the 205 gewogs combined will get barely 6% of the funds. And that includes money to build farm roads. Take away farm road construction, and the winners of the forthcoming local government elections will have very little money to fulfill their campaign promises.

Budget – taxes

June 23, 2011Government13 Comments

During his budget report last year, the finance minister informed the National Assembly that the government was implementing a range of measures to rationalize the sales tax and customs duty rates, and to broaden the sales tax base. The measures were expected to bring in additional revenue of Nu 450 million. The government eventually withheld the implementation of all the increased taxes, except those that were imposed on vehicles. The taxes on vehicles were also lifted after the Supreme Court declared them to be unlawful. This year, the government has submitted the Tax Revision Bill 2011 to the National…

Budget – services

June 23, 2011Government

Here are more random thoughts on the budget. Please keep your comments coming. Education. 17% of the total budget will go towards education. And this does not include money for vocational training, which comes under a separate budget head. Excellent! Health. 7% of the total budget will go towards providing free healthcare. Excellent! Incidentally, the government earned Nu 130 million as “health contribution”. That works out to 7% of the total outlay for health. Not bad, considering that healthcare is provided “free of cost”. But we can do better: health contribution (which is currently 1% of basic pay) could…

Budget report

June 22, 2011Government12 Comments

The finance minister presented the government’s budget proposal on Monday. Here are some of my random thoughts on the budget. Pay increase. Last year’s pay hike for public servants cost the government Nu 380 million. PIT increase. The government made an extra Nu 247 million in personal income taxes last year, mainly because of the pay hike. Tax refund. The government collected Nu 28 million by increasing vehicle taxes unlawfully last year. At the Supreme Court’s orders, the government has refunded that money to the taxpayers. Government expenditure. The government’s expenditure for this financial year is budgeted at Nu…

Screaming for answers

May 30, 2011Government17 Comments

The picture above, taken by Bhutan Today, shows victims of the recent Chamkhar fire huddling around their possessions. Look at that picture. It should make you feel grateful. The picture shows that the residents were able to save at least some of their belongings from the fire that engulfed entire houses. They seem to have rescued clothes, mattresses, blankets, tables, carpets, pots, cupboards and even a bukhari from the fire that destroyed 33 houses. Given the tragic circumstances, we should be grateful for that. Look at that picture again. It should now make you feel frustrated. The picture shows…

Working with NC

July 6, 2010Government, Legislature

The prime minister, in his State of the Nation address, on differences between the National Council and National Assembly: Already several issues have arisen between the National Council and this House which inevitably raised the question of seeking the guidance of the Supreme Court even before it was established. Now with its establishment, the wisdom of the judiciary too will be tested if indeed constitutional issues are brought before it. My hope is that, through the ongoing dialogue between the two houses, these issues will be resolved without judicial intervention. Very good. Now prove that there's some genuine commitment…

GNH vs GDP

July 3, 2010Government8 Comments

How important is GNH to the government? In the prime minister’s State of the Nation address (which, incidentally, sounded more like a political campaign speech than a statement by the head of government) GNH was mentioned 14 times. Plus he made 6 separate references to happiness. On the other hand, he mentioned GDP just once, and that to caution against being “swayed onto the GNP/GDP path.” How important, in reality, is GNH to the government? In the finance minister’s budget report (which explains how the government will finance its policies) GDP was mentioned no less than 46 times. And…

Increase civil service salaries

June 30, 2010Government

The day before yesterday, during budget discussion, the seven reasons I reported on why it may be time to review civil service salaries: Domestic revenue of the government, through tax and non-tax measures, has increased considerably since the last salary increase. In 2008-09 domestic revenues were projected to be Nu 11,932 million. In 2009-10 it was Nu 14,108 million. And in 2010-11 it is projected to be Nu 15,816 million. Domestic revenues have increased by a whopping 33% while civil service salaries have remained stagnant. Between 2008-09 and 2010-11 budgets, the government’s overall outlay has increased by a considerable…

About measures and incentives

July 27, 2009Economy

Last week, the government announced that they “…will be introducing measures to expand the revenue base.” And, that they are “…also considering fiscal incentives to stimulate the private sector growth…” These announcements were made, quietly, in the government’s National Budget for 2009-10. But, the budget report offered no details. These are significant financial policies. So, our government should elaborate what “measures” and “incentives” our people can expect during the coming year.

Poor villages

July 25, 2009Poverty, Villages

Our government estimates that 23.3% of our population live in poverty. And that the incidence of poverty in our villages is significantly higher than in our towns. In fact, the poverty rate in rural Bhutan is 30.9%. That is, almost one in every three of our villagers lives below the poverty line. Compare this to the urban poverty rate of just 1.7%, and it becomes clear that our villages need serious and immediate attention. But, the amount of money allocated to local governments, and hence to rural Bhutan, for this financial year, again, is negligible. Only 22.8% of the…

Planning implementation

July 21, 2009Government2 Comments

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 year 2007 – 08. The budget for that year was prepared by the previous government. And, most of it was implemented by the interim government. The current government was in office for the final three months of that financial year. The total approved outlay…