New grouping in Bhutan to boost sagging economy

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THIMPHU, Nov 20 (PTI): A new grouping of 14 Bhutanese companies, in which the government has full or partial stake, has been set up to provide critical support for the growth of private sector in the Himalayan nation.
The Nu 19,000-billion Druk Holding and Investments (DHI) was formed last week with an initial grouping of 14 companies in sectors like hydropower, banking, minerals and natural resources.
"DHI will not only complement the government's efforts to accelerate development activities, but also provide critical support and services to the growth of the private sector," DHI chairperson Om Pradhan told reporters here.
In government-owned companies, DHI would set corporate governance guidelines, required to be followed by these companies and, in the companies where it has shareholding representation, it would submit through the directors exemplary guidelines that could be followed, Pradhan said.
Caretaker Prime Minister Kinzang Dorji, who has been named as president of DHI, said the new set up would begin functioning as soon as possible and implement "many important new national projects". CEO Karma Yonten said, "DHI would primarily look at two areas-enhancing the performance of DHI-linked companies and looking at new investment opportunities."
"As the investment arm of the government, it will have to look at which projects it will execute. Some national projects have already been identified for execution and these will be implemented through DHI," the Kuensel quoted him as saying. Yonten said most companies in the past were managed by the ministry of finance, which already had other mandates as a government agency.
"In a sense, the finance ministry did not have enough time to devote to management of these companies. With DHI making investments on behalf of the government, the administration will have more time to focus on other mandates like policy, regulations and planning," he said.