Economy - overview:
The government of Laos - one of the few remaining official Communist states - began decentralizing control and encouraging private enterprise in 1986. The results, starting from an extremely low base, were striking - growth averaged 7% in 1988-2001 except during the short-lived drop caused by the Asian financial crisis beginning in 1997. Despite this high growth rate, Laos remains a country with a primitive infrastructure; it has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, and limited external and internal telecommunications. Electricity is available in only a few urban areas. Subsistence agriculture accounts for half of GDP and provides 80% of total employment. The economy will continue to benefit from aid from the IMF and other international sources and from new foreign investment in food processing and mining.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $9.9 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
5.5% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 53%
industry: 23%
services: 24% (2001 est.)
Population below poverty line:
40% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 30.6% (1997)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
37 (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
10% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
2.4 million (1999)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 80% (1997 est.)
Unemployment rate:
5.7% (1997 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $211 million
expenditures: $462 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (FY98/99 est.)
Industries:
tin and gypsum mining, timber, electric power, agricultural processing, construction, garments, tourism
Industrial production growth rate:
7.5% (1999 est.)
Electricity - production:
1.317 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 1.4%
hydro: 98.6%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
824.7 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
400 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
2,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA
Oil - imports:
NA
Agriculture - products:
sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton; tea, peanuts, rice; water buffalo, pigs, cattle, poultry
Exports:
$345 million (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
wood products, garments, electricity, coffee, tin
Exports - partners:
Vietnam 26.2%, Thailand 19.4%, France 7.5%, Germany 5.5%, UK 3.0% (2002)
Imports:
$555 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery and equipment, vehicles, fuel, consumer goods
Imports - partners:
Thailand 58.2%, Vietnam 12.2%, China 9.4%, Singapore 3.8%, Japan 2.2% (2002)
Debt - external:
$2.53 billion (1999)
Economic aid - recipient:
$345 million (1999 est.)
Currency:
kip (LAK)
Currency code:
LAK
Exchange rates:
kips per US dollar - 7,562 (2002), 8,954.58 (2001), 7,887.64 (2000), 7,102.02 (1999), 3,298.33 (1998)
Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September
NOTE: The information regarding Laos on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Laos Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
