The Annual Royal Civil Service Award 2020 of the Ministry of Finance was held on December 14, 2020. The award ceremony was graced by Hon’ble Dasho Secretary, Ministry of Finance.

The award ceremony was conducted to fulfill the noble wishes of His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo to recognize the utmost dedication and loyalty of civil servants and their outstanding contribution to the TSA-Wa-Sum. It was also to remind them of their greater responsibilities that they need to shoulder for the nation. For this year, there were total of 244 medal and certificate recipients in the following categories:

1.     Lifetime Service Award – 25 recipients.

2.     Gold Medal for 30 years Service- 12 recipients

3.    Silver Medal for 20 years Service -42

4.     Bronze Medal for 10 Service -165

The Ministry would like to congratulate and convey our heartfelt wishes to each award recipient for their commitment, hard work and dedication to Tsa-Wa-Sum.

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The RMA transferred Nu. 2,001 million as surplus to the Royal Government of Bhutan on 29th October, 2020. The RMA closed the books of accounts for the Financial Year 2019-2020 with a surplus of Nu. 1,769,391,841.67. Given the current situation of the Government experiencing decline in the revenue due to the pandemic, the RMA management and staff voluntarily surrendered performance linked incentives of Nu.15.20 million and retained earnings of Nu.216.40 million for the financial year 2019-2020 totaling to Nu.2,001 million as surplus transferred to Royal Government of Bhutan.

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Recognizing the private sector as a critical partner for the economic growth, the Government has always placed high importance on the private sector. Further, to enhance access to financing, the Government has launched the National Credit Guarantee Scheme (NCGS), as a counter cyclical policy measure during the COVID-19 pandemic situation on October 5th 2020. It will sustain investments by easing access to credit during the COVID-19 times. The NCGS is an intervention under which the Government guarantees a portion of the loans availed for establishing a viable business entity.

Growth in domestic credit is critical for investments, boosting domestic demand and generating employment. However, collateral requirement has been a major impediment, in particular, for aspiring entrepreneurs to avail financing. Therefore, the NCGS will alleviate this challenge of aspiring entrepreneurs. Under the NCGS, for availing loans, Cottage and Small category will not require collateral except 10% equity and startups under this category will be eligible for 100 percent debt financing under the NCGS.
Unlike practices across the globe, the medium and large categories will also be eligible for loans under the NCGS. However, under such categories, a loan financing up to 50% or Nu 30 million, whichever is lower will be guaranteed by the Government and the balance will be shared between the lender and the borrower.

In addition, CGS will also be available for up-gradation of businesses from CSI to medium and medium to large.
Therefore, the NCGS has been designed to be an inclusive instrument for all categories of industries.
The projects under the NCGS will focus on the following thrust areas of:

• Boosting exports;
• Reducing economic dependency by investing in import substitution-based projects;
• Promoting innovation and technology; and
• Creating jobs to absorb the displaced and unemployed.

Implementations:

• The NCGS will be implemented under the overall guidance of a National Credit Guarantee Committee, which will be chaired by the Finance Minister with representative from key economic sectors;
• The NCGS will be implemented in partnership with the State-owned Banks, namely Bank of Bhutan, Bhutan Development Bank and the National CSI Development Bank (NCSIDBL); and
• A full time NCG Support Facility (NCGSF) will be established with the NCSIDBL, to provide all necessary support in availing loans and implementing projects under the NCGS.

Conclusion:

Under the COVID-19 Pandemic situation, the NCGS will go a long way in securing financing for the establishment of viable new business entities besides supporting the upgradation of existing businesses.
There will be challenges and risks in the journey of implementing the NCGS. Globally, monitoring and support mechanisms of such initiatives have been critical in determining the success of such schemes. While the government will ensure that and fulfill its responsibility to create the environment and platform, we urge the private sector to grab the opportunity, with responsibility. Through collaboration with responsibility, the investments that emerge as a result of the NCGS shall sustain economic activities, and turn aspirations into a reality for a resilient economy.

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Please follow the website www.gov.bt/covid19 maintained by Ministry of Information & Communications for any information related to COVID-19.

You can also follow the following links to get yourself informed on the COVID-19.

• PMO Office and PMO Official Facebook Page
• Ministry of Health and MOH Official Facebook Page

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Bhutan is proving that continued investments in GovTech solutions and reforms help build a strong resilient foundation to shocks like the coronavirus.

The country follows the unique concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), which takes a holistic view and approach towards development, to measure prosperity. Under GNH, good governance is a key pillar and Bhutan scores higher on all six World Governance Indicators compared to other countries in South Asia and has shown continued improvements in these indicators over the last decade.

A critical component of this success is the steady progress in strengthening PFM policies and systems. The Government has actively taken steps to integrate its financial management information systems (FMIS) with other government systems for greater efficiency.

When the Government of Bhutan launched the country-wide electronic payments functionality through their electronic Public Expenditure Management System (e-PEMS) as part of the IFMIS development in 2019, they would learn in hindsight that this investment would prove immensely useful a year later as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. The e-PEMS facilitated smooth delivery of payments to vendors and civil servants and played a significant role in transferring relief payments to beneficiaries across the country, the latter under a scheme titled Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu which means the Dragon King’s welfare, self-help and assistance.

Druk Gyalpo’s Relief Kidu is one of the most important measures undertaken under by the Royal Government of Bhutan to provide immediate relief to distressed individuals whose livelihoods have been impacted by the pandemic. Relief is not only limited to cash grants but also covers defraying the cost of living expenses such as shelter, food and medicine. Above all, the objective is to “boost morale and provide assurance of hope despite current hardships”.

Bhumika Monger of Lhamoidzingkha said, “While the future ahead is still bleak in terms of getting a job, I felt reassured with the relief kidu. One thing has become clear to me that no matter how worse the situation turns out to be, I can always count on His Majesty’s compassion.”

The e-PEMS became the frontline tool that enabled disbursement of cash grants from the Kidu relief fund of almost USD 2.15 million to 14,634 recipients as the first installment in April 2020. The disbursement through e-PEMS has greatly facilitated prompt electronic payments to the beneficiaries directly into their bank accounts.

By making this process entirely electronic, it also eliminated the need for physical contact helping contain the spread of the virus. Various e-government systems have been integrated with each another thus enabling a more cohesive government service delivery system platform eliminating the need for physical presence. These systems have also facilitated implementing Work from Home (WfH) directives from the Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) and making the social and physical distancing requirements much smoother.

As important as technological updates are, they need to be backed by the proper analog components such as legal reforms as well. The Public Finance Act of 2007 in Bhutan provided a legal framework that would allow the Ministry of Finance to use public funds for emergency expenditures. This framework was then submitted to Parliament which passed the Supplementary Appropriation Bill. The Ministry of Finance notified the procedures and how activities related to the pandemic would be implemented to ensure proper budgeting, timely disbursement of funds, proper accounting, and finally, audits of the COVID-19 related expenditures. This is an example where strong systems and good governance converge.

The citizens of Bhutan have fared better than others around the world during the crisis due to a combination of swift government actions, citizen participation and investments in GovTech that are paying off.

“Whatever I do, will not be able to repay the debt I owe my King, and the country for the free education, healthcare and now the relief kidu during this most difficult time of my life,” said Tashi, 55, from Pema Gatshel. “Every day, I pray for the good health and long life our King for all that our King has done and continues to do.Because of him, every night I can look forward to the next morning.”

Bhutan, however, has not yet seen the end of the situation yet. The government has taken further prevention and preparedness measures with an emphasis on critical medical services and advisories. Schools and public space closures, work from home and social distancing measures continue to be put in place. During such an unprecedented time, the public service delivery is critical, and it is clear that having an efficient and effective PFM system is all the more important. e-PEMS and other PFM reforms in Bhutan are being supported by the Public Financial Management-Multi-Donor Fund Program which is administered by The World Bank and funded by Austrian Development Agency and European Union.

As demonstrated in the above case in Bhutan, strengthened PFM systems helped the country to better manage the challenges created by the pandemic.

Author: Mr. Tshering Dorji, Director, DPA
Source: Word Bank, Blog

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Name                           : Lungten Tshering
Position Title               : P2 A
Agency                : Regional Revenue & Customs Office,P/Ling 
Active Service             : 01/09/1984 to 01/01/2020

Mr. Lungten Tshering (EID No.8409010), Joint Collector, Regional Revenue & Customs Office, P/Ling under Department of Revenue and Customs Office has retired from the Civil Service with effect from 1^st January 2020.

The Ministry of Finance would like to convey our sincere gratitude to him for rendering 35 years 4 months service with utmost dedication and sincerity to the Tsa-Wa-Sum.

Name                           : Santa Kharka Chhetri
Position Title               : S2 A
Agency                        : Regional Revenue & Customs Office, Gelephu
Active Service             : 14/04/1986 to 01/01/2020

Mr. Santa Kharka Chhetri (EID No. 8604112), Tax Inspector II, Regional Revenue & Customs Office, Gelephu under Department of Revenue and Customs Office has retired from the Civil Service with effect from 1^st January 2020.

The Ministry of Finance would like to convey our sincere gratitude to him for rendering 33 years 7 months 22 days service with utmost dedication and sincerity to the Tsa-Wa-Sum.

“We wish them a happy retired life here after with his family.”

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