Bhutan’s economic landscape showed various trends, last year. According to the National Accounts Statistics report released by the National Statistics Bureau, the services sector emerged as the leading contributor to the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, while the agriculture sector saw a decline in growth.
According to the NAS report, the agriculture sector, which includes activities like crop cultivation, livestock rearing, and forestry, 2022 witnessed a decline in growth for the first time, seeing a -1.15 per cent growth rate compared to 1.42 per cent in 2021.
This decline was primarily attributed to challenges in crop cultivation, while the livestock sector also slowed down compared to the previous year.
The Gross Value Added, GVA, which measures the value of what a country produces, without including the cost of materials used to make those products, show the primary sector contributed over 33-billion-ngultrum to the country’s economy, last year.
On the other hand, the industry sector, which is the manufacturing sector, saw a growth rate of almost six per cent in 2022, an improvement from the previous year’s rate by 1.65 percentage points.
Growths in construction and manufacturing played a pivotal in driving the industry sector’s growth, contributing significantly to the overall expansion.
The total GVA for the secondary sector was recorded at around 72-billion-ngultrum, which is over 31 per cent’s share of the economy.
Meanwhile, as is the trend, Bhutan’s services sector is the highest contributor to the GDP, accounting for almost 55 per cent in 2022, an increase of over three percentage points from 2021.
Services sector contributed over Nu 120bn to the country’s GDP, which is about Nu 228bn.
Notably, all sub-sectors within the services sector recorded positive growth, including hotels and restaurants, wholesale and retail trade, and the information and communication.
As the economy continues to be driven by the services sector, with the government taking initiatives to boost tourism and new hydropower projects in line for commissioning is expected to further shore up the sector’s contribution to GDP.
Karma Samten Wangda
Edited by Sherub Dorji
