Countries and Regions

	Table of Contents
p. 3 of 5 BACK | NEXT I. Consistency of the Business Plan with the Current Country Partnership Strategy II. Indicative Lending and Nonlending Programs III. Summary of Changes in Lending and Nonlending Programs IV. Indicative Internal Resource Requirements V. Results-Based Monitoring

Country Operations Business Plan 2008-2010: Bhutan

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III. Summary of Changes in Lending and Nonlending Programs

7. Lending Program. No changes have been made in the lending program, which, as outlined earlier, will continue to support the priority sectors identified in the CPS. Only the title of the energy sector operation has been changed, to “Power Sector Development Project.”

8. Nonlending Program. The Government has reaffirmed the need for the 2007 program. The programmed advisory technical assistance (TA) project Public Resource Management-II will now be known as “Strengthening Public Finance Management-I.” The beneficiary entities will be the Departments of National Budget and Public Accounts of the Ministry of Finance.

9. The June 2007 session of the incumbent National Assembly was its last session. The National Assembly is likely to be dissolved to pave the way for the country’s first-ever political party–based national elections, sometime in the first quarter of 2008, and the assumption of power of a new government shortly thereafter. In addition, the 10th Five-Year Plan (10FYP) is expected to be launched in July 2008. The Government informed the CPM that the overarching development objectives of the 10FYP—which is being prepared after extensive stakeholder consultation in a results-oriented framework, with an associated, albeit indicative, financing plan—may remain the same as those of the Ninth Plan. Keeping in view the evolving political transition in Bhutan, the Government and the CPM has agreed to maintain a degree of flexibility in the lending program for 2009–2010 and nonlending program for 2008–2010 to allow ADB to respond quickly and efficiently to emerging development needs.

10. The Planning Commission informed the CPM that it had to advance the work on Poverty Assessment (PA) compared to what was agreed with the 2006 ADB CPM. As such, there is now no longer a need for work related to the second PA or for preparatory TA for the second Bhutan Living Standards Survey. These two activities have therefore been dropped from the 2008 and 2009 nonlending pipelines.

11. To involve the private sector in the power sector and assist in the capacity development of the Druk Hydropower Corporation, which is currently envisaged to be the umbrella organization for power generation, and bulk supply (including export and import of power) activities in Bhutan, the Government and the CPM agreed to include an advisory TA project in the 2008 nonlending program. Also to be included in the program is a TA project for the establishment of a Credit Information Bureau (CIB). The creation of the CIB would facilitate (i) further development of the financial sector; (ii) access to credit under the ADB-assisted MSME project proposed for 2007; and (iii) identification of alternative financing needs for the further development of the power sector.

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