Bhutan’s economy showed strong signs of recovery and growth in 2024. According to the National Accounts Statistics 2025, launched today, the country recorded a GDP growth rate of 7.5 percent, a significant increase of 2.87 percentage points from 2023.
Among the three broad economic sectors, the tertiary sector which includes services such as hotels and restaurants, finance and insurance, retail and communication continued to dominate, contributing 54.18 per cent of the economy.
An increase in the tertiary sector’s contribution generally indicates that more economic activity is happening in the service industry.
The secondary sector, including manufacturing and construction, made up 31.67 per cent, while the primary sector comprising agriculture, forestry, and Livestock contributed 14.15 per cent.
Sonam Laendup, the chief of NSB said, “Globally, the GDP growth is like a little more than two percent. However, in the context of South Asia, it is like five percent. But when it comes to our context, it has done really good. With 7.5 per cent, I think it’s one of the highest within the region as well as globally. I will not say globally, but compared to global average, Bhutan’s GDP has done very well.”
Pema Dorji (PhD), the officiating chief of the Department of Macro-fiscal and Development Finance under finance ministry said, “For an individual household, what it represents is that as the economy booms, there’s more opportunity for investments and things like that. And 7.5 growth rate, what it translates into is increasing productivity of the individuals.”
The Finance Ministry had projected an 8.9 percent GDP growth for 2025. With the economy recording a 7.5 percent growth in 2024, an official from the ministry said the forecast remains on a stable growth path.
Pema Dorji (PhD)added that “And we are quite confident that this growth rate will be achieved. As I said, it’s mainly on account of PHPA II commissioning. And then you have seen the progress over the period, which has been reported on a timely manner. And until now, when we have updated our forecast, it holds true.”
The size of the economy for 2024 was estimated at over Nu 280bn, marking an increase of more than Nu 31bn compared to the previous year.
Samten Dolkar
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
