The House today re-deliberated on the Recommendations received from the National Council on the Budget Appropriation Bill for FY 2024-2025. The National Council had recommended that: 

1. The Government to deploy an adequate number of human resources at all levels, establish effective mechanisms to ensure optimal utilization of the capital budget or consider adjusting the budget based on the implementation capacity of budgetary bodies; 

2. The Government to enhance recurrent budget allocation to the two Houses of the Parliament to enable the Members of Parliament to discharge their duties and to protect national legislative and policy formulation from undue external influence; and 

3. The Government to formulate plans to handle economic shocks by properly managing finances, including savings during good times, adjusting debt strategies to reduce currency risks, and developing quick-response policies for economic crises.

The Chairperson of the Economics and Finance Committee reported that the first and third recommendations were in line with the recommendations made by the National Assembly and no further discussion is required. However, with regard to the second recommendation the Chairperson proposed that the Ministry of Finance could look into it during the mid-term budget review. The House through show of hands endorsed the EFC’s recommendation and directed the Minister for Finance to consider budget requirements of the parliament during the mid-term budget review. 

The Finance Minister moved the motion to adopt the revised budget outlay of Nu.97,628.839 after dropping Nu.25.990 million capital budget proposed for Green Bhutan Corporation. The House adopted the Budget Appropriation Bill for FY 2024-2025 with 42 Yes and 3 Abstain out of 45 Members present and voting. The Budget Appropriation Bill for FY 2024-25 along with the Supplementary Budget Appropriation Bill for FY 2023-24 will be submitted for Royal Assent as per the rule of law.