Every district will have to project its annual Gross Domestic Product in the 13th Five-Year Plan. Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said this while meeting with the district officials of Haa today. This means each district will be required to show how strong its economy is. The Prime Minister said doing so will enable each district to identify activities that will contribute to the economic growth of the districts which in turn will add to the overall growth of the country’s GDP at large. The Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to Haa.
Meeting with the district officials in Haa, the Prime Minister said that the government has successfully obtained 135 billion ngultrum to kick-start the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The Prime Minister added that in the 13th Plan, each district will focus on maximising its Gross Domestic Product. He said, that in doing so, the government plans to raise the per capita income of every citizen throughout the country.
The Prime Minister also added that tracking GDP at the district level will provide a framework to identify and establish economic objectives and activities specific to each district.
“Every District must also do the same and I would like to ask Haa dzongda to project the GDP of the district. Then it will be easy and more fun to work because that will give us a basis to compare each year’s results with the target to do even better in the following years. When we have a yearly target to meet, you will be able to identify the potential economic activities such as tourism, agriculture, livestock and industries and business and explore opportunities.”
The recently published Asian Development Outlook projected that the country’s economy will grow by 4.4 per cent this year. The Prime Minister said there is potential for the country’s economy to grow twice the projected figure.
“Like how we want to assess the per capita income of each person, we should be able to project the district’s GDP for the next five years. If we can do that, we will be able to identify the economic activities needed to achieve that target.”
The Prime Minister assured full government support for the district to pursue maximum economic growth. Prime Minister will meet with the people and officials of Sangbaykha Dungkhag tomorrow.
Countries worldwide, irrespective of how big or small the economy, measure each state’s GDP or the values of all goods and services produced within every state. This gives information about the size and the health of the economy.
Namgay Wangchuk, Haa
Edited by Phub Gyem
