Vacancy Re-Announcement for Chief Accounts Officer

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PRESS RELEASE

The Government of India released the Excise Duty Refund (EDR) claim for the year 2015, fund releases for two Project Tied Assistance Projects and 4th qtr release of Programme Grant amounting to Nu. 2,916 million, Nu. 513.885 million and Nu. 425 million, respectively, today.

Out of the total released amount, Nu. 2,208 million pertains to the imports made from the factory, and Nu. 707.9 million for the imports made from open market. The EDR claim for the year 2015 constitutes about 10% of the total revenue for the financial year 2016-2017.

The EDR claim for 2015 was verified in June 2016 by a five – member delegation from Government of India, lead by Mr. Mahender Singh, Director General, Directorate General of Performance Management (Customs, Central Excise and Services Tax) Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance.

The Government of India refunds the Excise Duty on annual basis as per the Article VIII of the Bilateral Trade and Transit Agreement, which states that “Each of the Government agrees to provide appropriate refund to be mutually decided annually in respect of the Excise Duty on goods of its origin exported to the other”. Nevertheless, as a goodwill gesture of the Government of Peoples Republic of India, the central excise duty component on our imports is refunded to RGOB on annual basis.

Government of India has committed Nu. 45,000 million in the 11th FYP to Royal Government of Bhutan . The detail break-up of the commitment are: Nu. 28,000 million for Project Tied Assistance (PTA), Nu. 8,500 million for Program Grant (PG) and Nu. 8,500 million for Small Development Projects (SDP). As on date, Government of India has released Nu. 17,541.870 million for GoI PTA projects, Nu. 6,800 million for Program Grant and Nu. 7,150.253 million for SDP to RGoB. In total, GoI has released Nu. 31,492.123 million to RGoB which is 70% of total committed allocation in the 11th Five Year Plan Period. In addition to the commitment of Nu 45000 million, Government of India has also committed for a Economic Stimulus package (ESP) of Nu 5000 million to Royal Government of Bhutan, of which Nu 4400 million has been released so far.

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The Hon’ble Finance Minister along with the senior officials from the Ministry of Finance attended the SASEC Finance Ministers’ meeting on 3rd April, 2017 in New Delhi. During the meeting one important document “The SASEC Vision Document” was launched and a Joint Ministerial Statement was made by the Hon’ble Finance Minister of India on behalf of the SASEC Finance Ministers.

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Fiscal Incentives 2016

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PRESS RELEASE
Loan Signing on March 10, 2017

The Royal Government of Bhutan and the World Bank signed today the Second Fiscal Sustainability and Investment Climate Development Policy Credit (DPC2) of US$24 million, which will help improve fiscal sustainability, access to finance, and investment climate.

Bhutan has made impressive progress in poverty reduction and economic growth over the past decade. At the same time, high levels of investment in the hydropower sector have increased pressures on the country’s fiscal balance and external accounts.

The credit was signed by Lyonpo Namgay Dorji, the Royal Government of Bhutan’s Finance Minister, on behalf of the Royal Government of Bhutan, and Mr Yoichiro Ishihara, Resident Representative for Bhutan, on behalf of the World Bank.

This credit is the second of two operations to support Bhutan’s Eleventh Five-Year Plan (11th FYP) (2013–2018) goals of promoting green socio-economic development and achieving self-reliance. DPC2 was approved by the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank on December 21, 2016.

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Internationally, 26th January is celebrated as an International Customs Day (ICD) under the auspices of the World Customs Organization (WCO) since the Convention establishing the Customs Co-operation Council was officially inaugurated in Brussels on 26th January 1953. Subsequently, the Customs administrations of WCO member States organize various national events during the ICD. The WCO on its part dedicates an annual theme that is officially declared on the ICD and the theme for 2017 is “Data Analysis for Effective Border Management”.

Data is generated by every economic activity, including the movement of goods and people and circulates extensively along the global value chain. Collecting and analyzing data to enhance the effectiveness of border management is of paramount importance to Customs administrations. This year, in the context of the International Customs Day, the WCO is introducing the theme “Data Analysis for Effective Border Management” to encourage the global Customs community to pursue their efforts and activities in this area.

The Department of Revenue and Customs (DRC) with effect from 2014 joined the global Customs community in formally celebrating this day. This year’s ICD celebrations main event was organized in Samdrup Jhongkhar and honored being graced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. On this day, the DRC awarded WCO Merit Certificates to 16 best performing Customs officials as a recognition and appreciation for their hard work, dedication and integrity. The DRC also awarded certificate of appreciation top ten Personal Income Tax payers and also top ten Business and Corporate income taxpayers’ (BIT & CIT) with good compliance record and best performing business entity. The Department also launched the publication of Bhutan Trade Classification, Customs Tariff and Sales Tax Schedule, 2017 edition on this day.

Considering the theme for 2017, Hon’ble Members of Parliaments, senior executives of the Ministry of Finance, senior officials of the DRC from other regional offices, relevant stakeholders, border enforcement agencies and cross-border Customs officials of India, also joined the celebration.

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Press Release on the Launch of Economic Early Warning System

The Hon’ble Finance Minister, Lyonpo Namgay Dorji launched the Economic Early Warning System for Bhutan. Also present were Cyn-Young Park (Director, ADB), Yoichiro Ishihara (Resident Representative, World Bank) and officials from ADB, the Ministry of Finance and other key economic agencies.

The development of an Economic Early Warning System (EWS) for Bhutan is one of the initiatives undertaken towards strengthening macroeconomic monitoring and surveillance in the country. The economy’s long term growth prospects of becoming more resilient to adverse economic shocks and being informed of increases in the level of exposure to these shocks is a prerequisite to achieve a sustainable economic growth. Strengthening macroeconomic monitoring and surveillance is crucial to ensure both short and longer term macroeconomic stability which is a key objective of Bhutan’s guiding policy founded on the principles of Gross National Happiness.
An early warning system (EWS) is a mechanism that captures symptoms of any event that is adverse to the economy in advance and can be used to track economic crisis, thereby signaling future crises. It constitutes important tool for authorities to implement optimal policies to prevent or at least attenuate the impact of an economic turmoil. To predict a crisis, policy makers must understand its potential causes and the development of EWS, tailored to Bhutanese economy is expected to assist in timely detection and mitigation.

The system has been developed through the joint collaboration between the Asian Development Bank and Knowledge Sharing Program, the Republic of Korea.
Two day familiarization workshop on EWS was also organized for the members of Macroeconomic Framework Coordination Technical Committee (MFCTC) following the launch.

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PRESS RELEASE

The Financial Rules & Regulations (FRR 2001) which was implemented with effect from July 2001 has now been revised and will be termed as Financial Rules & Regulations 2016 (FRR 2016). The FRR 2016 has been launched by the Hon’ble Finance Secretary on 27th December 2016 during the Annual Financial Workshop which was themed as “Towards Achieving Excellence in Financial Management”.

The FRR has been revised in accordance to the Public Finance Act; the web based Budgeting and Accounting Systems (MYRB & PEMS) and various circulars and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance. In the revised
manual, the accounting, budgeting and reporting systems have been simplified and redundancies have been removed making it more dynamic and user friendly.

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Induction Programs for new officers (Graduate officers -PGDFM) and Revenue/Customs Inspectors

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) organised Induction Program for University Graduate Officers (PGDFM) who got their placement in the MOF on 5th January 2017 in the Ministry of Finance, Thimphu. The Officers have been selected through Bhutan Civil Service Examination, completed one year PGDFM course at Royal Institute of Management (RIM) and have been placed in the Ministry of Finance at various positions effective from 1st January 2017.

The Hon’ble Finance Secretary congratulated each of them for successfully completing their course at the RIM and having got their placements in the MOF. The graduates were made familiar with the core mandates of MOF and its importance in nation building through dynamic fiscal policies and sound financial management through maximization of resource generation, efficient allocation and prudent expenditure. Moreover, Dasho urged them to uphold high level of integrity in terms of complying with the various provisions of the Rules and maintain clean track records since they are the key officials to manage the financial resources and their positions fall under vulnerable category. With the right attitude and ability to deliver effectively, he informed the new officers that their prospects in the MOF in terms of career progression and the HR related opportunities are enormous.

A total of 23 PGDFM graduates comprising of 11 Assistant Customs/Revenue/Tax/Sales Tax Officers, 6 Assistant Accounts Officers, 4 Assistant Procurement Officers, 1 Assistant Internal Audit Officer and 1 Assistant Budget Officer attended the above Session. Further, these new Officers will be attached with the respective Departments/Sectors for another two to three weeks to familiarise with the work and organisational culture before they join their new place of postings. The Hon’ble Finance Secretary also briefed the newly recruited 33 Revenue/Customs/Sales Inspectors on 6 January 2017

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The Ministry of Finance organised the award ceremony of the “2016 Dedicated Civil Service Awards” on 16th December 2016. Addressing the Award Ceremony by the Hon’ble Finance Secretary, he stated today’s civil service awards which was initiated by the government at the command of His Majesty the King reflects the recognition for distinguished contribution and hard work of all the recipients. He congratulated all of them

The Hon’ble Finance Secretary stated that it was an excellent opportunity of all the award recipients and the employee of MoF to pay tribute and rededicate our commitment and loyalty to Tsa-Wa-Sum. There were 170 recipients in MoF which includes (1) Lifetime (superannuated employee) – 25; (2) 30 years and above (Gold Medal) – 28; (3) 20 years and above (Silver Medal) – 29; (4) 10 years and above (Bronze Medal) – 88.

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