21/02/2025
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲
Soft Launch of Bhutan’s 21st Century Economic Roadmap - A 10X National Economic Vision
Today, in a historic move toward economic transformation, Hon’ble Lyonpo Namgyal Dorji, Minister, Ministry of Industry Commerce and Employment, unveiled Bhutan’s 21st Century Economic Roadmap – A 10X National Economic Vision. This ambitious blueprint sets the stage for a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economy, aligning with Bhutan’s values and aspirations.
In his address, the Hon’ble Minister emphasized that Bhutan’s economic future must be shaped by both strengthening its core industries where Bhutan has a substantial presence, and diversifying into new, high-growth sectors, which will position Bhutan for the 21st Century. The announcement, made on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of His Majesty The King, underscores the nation's commitment to building a future-ready economy that upholds the principles of Gross National Happiness while fostering innovation, sustainability, and equitable growth.
A Vision for Economic Transformation
The 10X Vision is a response to His Majesty’s address on the 112th National Day, where His Majesty emphasized that Bhutan must not ignore emerging challenges but proactively adapt to thrive in a fast-changing world. His Majesty called for a clear economic roadmap that empowers every individual and institution to play a role in achieving national self-reliance and prosperity.
Over the past six months, extensive consultations, sector-wide reviews, global trend analyses, and insights from previous initiatives have shaped this vision. It builds upon the draft 21st Century Economic Roadmap from the last government and insights from the Bhutan 10X, A Roadmap For Economic Development formulated under the Bhutan Opportunities for Leadership in Development (BOLD) initiative and commissioned by the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet with support from UNDP Bhutan.
Key Components of the 21st Century Economic Roadmap:
The Vision provides a strategic roadmap for the country’s long-term economic growth and development. The National Economic Vision will be to ‘Build a resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economy that enhances the well-being of all Bhutanese, grounded in the principles of Gross National Happiness (GNH), environmental stewardship, and equitable growth’.
The Vision details Bhutan’s ambitions, priority sectors for investments, and the enablers that will accelerate the delivery of the Economic Vision.
1. Ambitions for a Transformed Economy
The Vision sets forth five national ambitions that will guide Bhutan’s economic future:
i. Achieving a developed-economy status in the short term, and increasing Bhutan’s real GDP ten times by 2050.
ii. Building a diversified economy led by DHI and the Private Sector, with the private sector contributing at least 60% of the GDP in 2050.
iii. Establishing Bhutan as a leader in key sectors of sustainability, agriculture, digital, and tourism.
iv. Positioning Bhutan as a knowledge and innovation-driven economy, with sectors contributing up to 20% of the GDP.
v. Delivery of economic growth with sustainability and environmental stewardship at the center of development maintaining carbon neutrality and embedding GNH in all our pursuits.
To drive economic growth, the vision has identified eight priority sectors that have the greatest potential to drive economic benefits for Bhutan - in terms of GDP contribution, employment creation, and establishing Bhutan’s presence in high-growth sectors. All the sectors are synergistic with each other and will create ecosystem opportunities for Bhutan.
2. Strengthening Bhutan’s Core Industries
The Vision emphasizes the continued importance of Bhutan’s three core industries—hydropower, agriculture, and tourism—ensuring their sustained contribution of 25–35% to GDP:
i. Hydropower: Expanding capacity to 25,000 MW by 2050 while diversifying into alternative renewable energy sources.
ii. Agriculture: Transforming the sector into a high-value, export-oriented industry with an emphasis on organic and niche products.
iii. Tourism: Reinventing Bhutan’s high-value, low-volume tourism model to attract premium markets and develop new tourism offerings, such as wellness and adventure tourism.
3. Expanding into Emerging Sectors
The 10X Vision outlines strategic investments in high-potential, emerging industries to diversify Bhutan’s economy. These sectors will not only enable Bhutan to create knowledge and innovation-based jobs but also participate in global value chains. The new sectors will contribute between 30 to 50 percent of GDP by 2050:
i. Digital Economy: Establishing AI-ready, eco-friendly data centers and fostering an environment for digital and technology businesses that will serve multiple sectors.
ii. Services Sector: Developing Living and Wellness hubs eventually evolving into healthcare services, international education services hubs, and business process outsourcing (BPO/KPO) capabilities serving multiple sectors.
iii. Manufacturing: Investing in engineered wood production and sustainable forestry products, high-end agri-processing, pharmaceuticals, and R&D-driven industrial manufacturing.
iv. Mining and Mineral Processing: Exploring critical resource materials (CRMs) and leveraging Bhutan’s clean energy for sustainable minerals processing.
v. Energy: Enhance renewable and sustainable energy to improve the energy mix by diversifying energy sources.
4. Strategic Enablers for Growth
To accelerate the realization of these ambitions, the Government will pursue multiple initiatives across seven enablers that will support the sector initiatives. These are:
i. Policy and governance excellence to drive predictability of the regulatory and policy environment for individuals, and the private sectors. Existing regulations and policies will be reviewed while new regulations will be developed.
ii. Private sector development and investment promotion are supported by initiatives to create an enabling business environment, identify growth opportunities, and attract investments.
iii. Human capital development to develop a deep talent pool within Bhutan to address existing and emerging skill gaps.
iv. Infrastructure and connectivity improvements to reduce the costs of doing business and enable Bhutanese businesses to integrate with global supply chains.
v. Expanding market access through market identification, market development, and export promotion.
vi. Strengthening the financial ecosystem by developing an all-encompassing strategy, improving access to finance for the private sector, and exploring alternative sources of finance for new business models.
vii. Fostering an innovation ecosystem that will drive creativity through a network of innovation labs and investing in research and development.
A Call to Action for a Prosperous Future:
The launch of the 21st Century Economic Roadmap- Bhutan’s 10X National Economic Vision marks the beginning of a collective effort to transform Bhutan’s economy. The Vision promises opportunities for the private sector and across Bhutan. The government is committed to fostering strong public-private partnerships, attracting international investment, and ensuring that all Bhutanese benefit from the nation’s economic progress.
A Vision Delivery Unit will be established under the Office of Cabinet Affairs and Strategic Coordination that will work with implementing agencies and the private sector to jumpstart the implementation of the Vision. This Vision is not just a document; it is a call to action for every Bhutanese—entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, and citizens—to come together and shape a prosperous future. The vision document is an initiative of the Royal Government of Bhutan supported by UNDP under the BOLD project. It was led by Mr. Dorji Wangchuk, Independent Advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Mr. Vjaceslavs Dombrovskis, UNDP International Consultant. The effort was supported by UNDP Bhutan, the Office of Cabinet Affairs and Strategic Coordination, and invaluable contributions from stakeholders who shared their expertise and insights in envisioning a developed Bhutan.
The full Bhutan 10X National Economic Vision document will be available for public access within a few weeks and will serve as a guiding framework for Bhutan’s economic policies, programs, and investments in the coming decades.
Media Contact:
Chencho
Director
Office of Cabinet Affairs and Strategic Coordination
Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Bhutan
Email: chencho@cabinet.gov.bt
