The House today continued the deliberation on the Economics and Finance Committee’s review report on the Balance of Trade. The Chairperson of the Economics and Finance Committee presented the Committee’s four recommendations under the Industries and Businesses.

Regarding the State-Owned Enterprises being a competitor to the private sector, the Committee recommended that the state-owned enterprises refrain from venturing into businesses that offer better prospects and opportunities to the private sector. It was reported that as of now, the state-owned enterprises were seen undertaking businesses that were violating the 3 clauses under section 74 of the Public Finance Act 2007, which states that the state enterprise to undertake significant commercial activities which;

1. are not catered for by the private sector, or
2. are required to be undertaken solely or partly by the Government for reasons of social policy or security; or
3. fall in areas of natural monopoly.

The House supported the recommendation through a majority show of hands.

The House also supported the Committee’s recommendation to initiate and facilitate the establishment of service industries along the southern borders as alternative business and waiving of SDF for visitors (nationals of India) to border towns provided they do not halt more than a certain number of days as prescribed in the rules. The recommendations were submitted after the Committee’s observation that the only opportunity for thriving businesses along the southern borders is by creating uncontested market avenues. The levying of SDF on non-tourists (casual visitors) had led to the drying up of businesses such as hotels, restaurants, and entertainment centers as the visitors move across the border for the night halts and the domestic consumers preferred goods across the border due to low prices. However, since the recommendation on it contravenes the existing law, Speaker withheld from putting it into voting.

The Committee also recommended that the Government not levy SDF on non-tourist categories stating that the SDF on non-tourist categories is observed as not in accordance with section 4 of the Tourism Levy Act 2022 and Article 20(8) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan. It was also supported with a majority show of hands 

The House endorsed the decision of the House on the Committee’s recommendations on the Balance of Trade with 36 Yes, 1 No, and 6 Abstain from 43 Members present and voting. 

The 11 recommendations will be submitted to the government for consideration in implementation. The status of implementation will be reported in the next session.