The Economy of Laos: an Overview

Abstract

With a population of 4 million, and a large land area of 236,000 square kilometres, rich in agricultural, forestry, mineral and power resources, Lao PDR offers good prospects and opportunities for accelerated development. The country is confronted with formidable obstacles to exploiting these opportunities: lack of infrastructure, lack of manpower skills and lack of domestic and foreign savings. The government has adopted new policy and programme directions, incorporated in the New Economic Management System, which are designed to remove some of these constraints. Deregulation of pricing and markets has created new incentives for state enterprises (which have also been delegated greater autonomy) and for the private sector, whose contribution to development is now more fully appreciated.