Publication: Bhutan Country Economic Update : Accelerating Growth and Poverty Reduction
Date
2007-09-22
ISSN
Published
2007-09-22
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
This report was prepared to help the
Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) meet its felt need for
more economic analysis and policy advice. It also seeks to
provide information to a wider audience of development
partners and interested parties. Over the past 25 years,
Bhutan has been developing rapidly, pursuing sound economic
policies, exploiting hydropower, and enjoying strong support
from external development partners. Solid growth continues
to raise per capita income and support improvements in
social indicators. Through the prism of these four elements,
this report seeks to contribute to the policy discussion by
providing an integrative analysis and update of the
Bhutanese economy, as well as developing a set of key
recommendations and issues that warrant consideration or
further study. Section two describes ongoing governance
reforms, outlines the objectives articulated in
Bhutan's Vision 2020 document and the Ninth Five-Year
Plan (Ninth Plan), discusses the poverty reduction strategy,
and notes progress towards meeting the millennium
development goals. Section three examines recent economic
developments, including growth, the balance of payments, and
external debt. Section four analyzes macroeconomic policy,
highlighting the challenge of fiscal volatility and the need
to manage expectations surrounding the coming on-stream of
the giant hydropower project Tala. Section five discusses
several structural aspects of public resource management,
including ongoing fiscal and financial management reforms,
the importance of avoiding the 'natural resource
curse,' and the treatment of state owned enterprises.
Section six investigates the role of strengthening the
investment climate for facilitating private sector
development. Section seven comments on the prospects for
accelerating growth, looking at the development of
additional hydropower resources, construction, tourism, and
agribusiness, emphasizing that while hydropower will
continue to drive economic growth, tourism and value added
activities in agriculture will be central to boosting growth
and generating broad-based employment. Section eight
concludes with medium term development prospects and challenges.
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. Bhutan Country Economic Update : Accelerating Growth and Poverty Reduction. © Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/28495b49-5346-5dc7-9506-a1046a0c1ca6 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”