Laos/

The government of Laos, one of the few remaining one-party Communist states, began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise in 1986. The results, starting from an extremely low base, were striking - growth averaged 6% per year from 1988-2008 except during the short-lived drop caused by the Asian financial crisis that began in 1997. Despite this high growth rate, Laos remains a country with an underdeveloped infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. It has a rudimentary, but improving, road system, and limited external and internal telecommunications. Electricity is available in urban areas and in many rural districts. Subsistence agriculture, dominated by rice cultivation in lowland areas, accounts for about 30% of GDP and provides 80% of total employment. The government in FY08/09 received $560 million from international donors. Economic growth has reduced official poverty rates from 46% in 1992 to 26% in 2009. The economy has benefited from high foreign investment in hydropower, mining, and construction. Laos gained Normal Trade Relations status with the US in 2004, and is taking steps required to join the World Trade Organization, such as reforming import licensing. Related trade policy reforms will improve the business environment. On the fiscal side, Laos launched an effort to ensure the collection of taxes in 2009 as the global economic slowdown reduced revenues from mining projects. Simplified investment procedures and expanded bank credits for small farmers and small entrepreneurs will improve Lao’s economic prospects. The government appears committed to raising the country’s profile among investors. The World Bank has declared that Laos’s goal of graduating from the UN Development Program’s list of least-developed countries by 2020 is achievable. According Laotian officials, the 7th Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2011-15 will outline efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals.

$15.42 billion (2010 est.)

$14.41 billion (2009 est.)

$13.53 billion (2008 est.)

$6.341 billion (2010 est.)

7% (2010 est.)

6.5% (2009 est.)

7.2% (2008 est.)

$2,400 (2010 est.)

$2,300 (2009 est.)

$2,200 (2008 est.)

3.65 million (2009 est.)

2.5% (2009 est.)

2.4% (2005 est.)

26% (2009 est.)

34.6 (2002)

37 (1997)

6.2% (2010 est.)

0% (2009 est.)

4.3% (31 December 2010)

4% (31 December 2009)

26% (31 December 2010)

11% (30 November 2009)

$630 million (31 December 2010 est)

$691.1 million (31 December 2009)

$1.818 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.549 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$1.562 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.095 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, tea, peanuts, rice; water buffalo, pigs, cattle, poultry

copper, tin, gold, and gypsum mining; timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, cement, tourism

12% (2010 est.)

1.656 billion kWh (2009 est.)

1.798 billion kWh (2009 est.)

230 million kWh (2009 est.)

819.5 million kWh (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

3,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

3,080 bbl/day (2007 est.)

NA bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$23 million (2010 est.)

-$356 million (2009 est.)

$1.215 billion (2010 est.)

$1.104 billion (2009 est.)

wood products, coffee, electricity, tin, copper, gold

Thailand 29.18%, China 15.04%, Vietnam 14.96%, UK 4.29% (2009)

$1.504 billion (2010 est.)

$1.308 billion (2009 est.)

machinery and equipment, vehicles, fuel, consumer goods

Thailand 66.2%, China 11.45%, Vietnam 5.3% (2009)

$756 million (31 December 2010 est.)

$712.4 million (31 December 2009 est.)

$3.085 billion (2009 est.)

$3.179 billion (2006 est.)

kips (LAK) per US dollar - 8,320.27 (2010), 8,516.04 (2009), 8,760.69 (2008), 9,658 (2007), 10,235 (2006)