After the economic crisis of Sri Lanka, Pakistan’s name has been doing the rounds in the list f troubled economies. However, the latest entry in the list of economies facing acute crisis, is that of Bhutan. The import of non-essential goods could be discouraged and even restricted to control the widening trade deficit and protect the depleting foreign currency reserve.
Finance Minister Namgay Tshering has said the value of imports during the first six months of 2022 had exceeded that of the total imports of 2021. “Imports increased due to the normalisation of covid-19 protocols,” he said.
The value of imports amounted to Nu 90.22 billion (B) in 2021 from Nu 66.63B in the previous year. Accordingly, the trade deficit increased to more than Nu 32B from more than Nu 18B during the corresponding period.
The country, he said, “really” needed to address the issue of trade deficit to fix the basic macro-economic…
