Where five percent hurts most

Prices in most shops have jumped five percent overnight. In Changzamtog, a couple sits at their tiny wooden table, counting what little money they have left. The husband, the sole breadwinner, earns Nu 17,000 at a convenience store. Rent takes Nu 5,500. Electricity bill, another about Nu 1,500. That leaves about Nu 10,000 for groceries, school fees, internet charges, and survival.

How excise tax reshapes prices of sin goods

The new excise tax (ET) framework, effective from January 1, has led to price increases for alcohol, tobacco, carbonated...

New income tax law widens relief for families and households

The government has introduced a range of tax relief measures for individuals under a new income tax framework rolled out...

GST drives shoppers across the border in Phuentsholing

No timeline yet for GST refunds to tourists leaving Bhutan

The government is yet to announce when the Goods and Services Tax (GST) refund mechanism for tourists and short-term vis...

Consumers foot the bill as double taxation bites during GST transition

Consumers are facing short-term price increases as the country transitions to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system, w...

Second Bhutan International ESG Alliance forum kicks off

Police refute allegations of torture claims in custodial death of Biren Kafley with CCTV footage evidence

Former BIG regional manager sentenced to nine years for embezzlement

Bumpa Wangmo, former regional manager of Bhutan Industrial Gas (BIG), has been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment aft...

Dzongkhags rally to attract local tourists

Solving youth unemployment before it’s too late

Youth unemployment has become one of Bhutan’s most persistent national challenges. And it endures despite successive governments, past and present, making concerted efforts to address it through a string of policies, programmes, and financial commitments. What is most unsettling today is not just the stubbornness of the unemployment data, but the predictability of our response to them.

Addressing teacher shortage and quality

In some schools, especially in urban centres, there are more teachers than timetables demand. In others, often remote schools, the absence of teachers in key subjects has become chronic.

When rising corruption reports tell a deeper story

The growing number of corruption reports in the past year forces the nation to confront a hard truth: something in our s...

Regulatory reforms must be matched with a mindset shift

The government’s commitment to address regulatory barriers that have choked business growth deserves recognition and sup...

The classic egg and chicken situation

The price of an egg in the capital has soared to a staggering Nu 20, pushing a standard tray of 30 to Nu 520. While it feels like a crisis, there's no pandemic to blame this time and despite common belief, the cold weather is not t...

Internalising our deeper values

The return of the Buddha’s sacred Piprahwa relics to India yesterday was more than a ceremonial farewell. It was a lesson in how nations should conduct themselves at a time when the world seems determined to spira...

Leveraging our carbon-negative status

Bhutan’s environmental stewardship, which has resulted in the country's rich biodiversity, is finally translating into concrete economic gains. The first-of-its-kind carbon credit agreement with Singapore allows Bhutan to monetise...

Solving the crisis before it deepens

The exodus of qualified and seasoned health professionals and its impact on the quality of services is an issue of national importance. In the last five years, 936 trained health professionals left the sector. The current crisis...