Laos govt to step up efforts to attract high-quality foreign investment

VIENTIANE (Xinhua): The Laos government has vowed to do more to attract more high-quality foreign investments and ensure that more foreign currency flows into the South-East Asian country, local media has reported.

A three-day open government meeting, which wrapped up in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday, approved key measures and policies to address economic challenges and create favorable conditions to ensure that foreign currency earned from investments and exports enters Laos through the banking system, Lao National Radio reported on Thursday.

The meeting was chaired by Laos Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and attended by cabinet members and representatives of various state agencies.

The Lao government acknowledged that one of the main challenges for Laos is that the amount of money sourced from foreign investments and circulating through the banking system is much less than the agreed value of investments.

In addition, only a little more than 30 per cent of export receipts enter the country through the banking system, said the report.

The government meeting agreed to take additional steps to improve the country's investment climate and learn from the practice in other countries to boost high-quality investment and regulate the payment of foreign currency earned from investments and exports.

The Lao government also pledged to tackle tax evasion on the part of investors, as well as unpaid concession fees, ghost projects, and issues linked to social and environmental impacts.

Cabinet members also discussed the country's pressing economic issues, in particular skyrocketing inflation, depreciation of the Lao currency kip, currency exchange rates, high level of public debt, and labour shortage. - Xinhua