Expensive talk

July 30, 2012Posted inEconomy34 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? …

Price increases

January 12, 2011Posted inGovernment23 Comments
A civil servant tells me that the recent salary increase has made him poorer! How? Because his pay increase barely covers the corresponding increase in the cost of rent, fuel and groceries. This is his statement of expenditure: We can’t do much about the increase in the cost of fuel and onions. They reflect price hikes in India and have nothing to do with salary increases here. But we can’t allow rents and the prices of other goods to shoot up every time civil servants get a pay hike. This undermines the whole purpose of a pay increase. And…

Inflating prices

July 29, 2010Posted inEconomy
The effects of inflation on the prices of essentials ... Items Rates May June July Stone Free Rice (ST Rice) 980 1050 1100 Nestle Every Day Milk Powder 190 215 245 Red Label Tea Leave  (500 gms) 145 145 145 Natural  Gold Refined Oil (1Kg) 55 60 65 Maida (1Kg) 20 22 22 Salt (1Kg) 10 10 10 Sugar (1 Kg) 40 40 45 Amul Butter 100 110 120 Amul Cheese 190 205 225

Misleading numbers

November 6, 2009Posted inEconomy
The other day Kuensel reported that: Bhutan’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slumped to one of its lowest at 5 percent in 2008 despite the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa’s target of achieving a 9 percent growth rate annually. To this Dr Saamdu Chetri, the head of good governance section in the cabinet secretariat and DPT party member, was quoted as saying: “With inflation going up to 9.2 percent and a global recession, a growth rate of five percent is still an achievement.” There’s no doubt that the recent global recession would have constrained economic growth. So there could be some…