WASHINGTON, June 21, 2019 — The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $30 million loan for the second in a programmatic series of three development policy credit (DPC) operations to support Fiscal Management and Private Sector Employment Opportunities in Bhutan. The operation also supports Bhutan’s Twelfth Five-Year Plan (12th FYP, 2019–2023) towards a just, harmonious and sustainable society through enhanced decentralization.
“The operation will support Bhutan’s government in the first and third areas of its Twelfth Five-Year Plan that aims to build a just and sustainable society,” said Dandan Chen, Acting World Bank Country Director of Bangladesh and Bhutan. “To that end, the operation will help improve Bhutan’s macroeconomic stability, its education, and health sectors, and will help develop the private sector”
The operation is structured under two pillars. The first pillar supports reforms that will strengthen macroeconomic management, domestic resource mobilization and public financial management. The second pillar supports measures which will improve access to finance, facilitate trade and investment and enhance skills and human capital. This DPC series also supports the government’s efforts to ensure a sustainable economic growth model by promoting gender equality policies and climate change initiatives.
“With the implementation of the 12th FYP in full swing, the Royal Government of Bhutan will benefit from the proposed operation which supports institutional strengthening in some key areas,” said Namgay Tshering, the Royal Government of Bhutan’s Finance Minister.
The development policy series will be funded by credit from the International Development Association (IDA) – the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm with a zero percent interest rate and a 40-year repayment period.
