Govt warned to manage growing debt
Economists have warned the government needs a long-term strategy for managing its burgeoning debt against obligations while it works on securing more efficient and additional revenue sources. At the moment, Laos requires 1,559 billion kip to meet its budget expenditure following revenue shortfall in the first quarter of this year. Deputy Minister of Finance Mr Asaphangthong Siphandone told media recently the government is sourcing 2,442 billion kip to address the deficit that occurred in the first quarter. Of the total figure, 592.34 billion kip is being sourced from loans; 850 billion from bonds issued by the Ministry of Finance and 1,000 billion kip from bonds issued by the Bank of the Lao PDR.
