Laos is looking for measures to boost its economy, which has been heavily affected by Covid-19 for a long time. Meanwhile, the latest data on import and export of Laos in the first 6 months of this year shows that the country has a trade surplus after including electricity export into the data.

At the 13th Laos Economic Forum held recently in Vientiane, Chairman of the Lao Chamber of Commerce and Industry Udet Suvannavong warned that Covid-19 has caused a serious decline in the Lao economy in 2020. There are many economic sectors affected to varying degrees, and thus hitting the business sector hit hard. Tourism and service industries were the hardest hits, as well as the manufacturing industries due to the measures put in place to limit personal movement to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks.

Data from domestic and foreign research institutes showed that nearly 80% of economic sectors in Laos are affected, of which the most are in the fields of tourism, transportation and production and processing. Many business activities had to be completely closed in 2020. In addition, the flow of foreign currency of from Laos workers abroad has had decreased sharply because these foreign workers have also lost their jobs. The Laos economy continues to face difficulties, especially the high public debt, and the devaluation of the LAK (Laotian kip), had caused the prices of food and consumer goods to rise, and in turn affecting people's lives. Budget constraints also made it difficult for the Government to support capital funding for businesses as well as to restore production capabilities.

The figures presented at this forum showed that 12 priority issues have had been resolved, from out of the 40 priority issues raised at the last Laos Economic Forum. The priority issues that Laos needs to address now, are the re-establishment of businesses, trade facilitation, access to capital, the organization and implementation of laws and regulations, and the promotion of sustainable tourism and agribusiness. In the next 12 months, 32 outstanding issues from the last forum will be focused on by the Laos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the support of the Government. With regards to Regarding the direction of solving a series of difficult economic problems, Laos Prime Minister Phankham Viphavan stated at the forum that Laos will resolve priority issues on a case-by-case basis, and assigning them to relevant ministries to directly review and attach to embark on the process of organizing and implementing the national program.

The Laos government also attaches great importance to encouraging economic diversity to encourage sustainable economic development, ensuring macroeconomic stability, with measures to ensure development in the medium and long term. After a long period of extensive damage due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, some provinces and cities in Laos have gradually reorganized their production models, or are looking for measures to develop other economic sectors.

The trade turnover figures for Laos were also remarkable in the first 6 months of 2021, having exceeded the set targets and were up over the same period last year.

A good sign for the Laos economy is that the country has a trade surplus in the first 6 months of 2021, with a level of 735 million USD. For the export and import turnover of 6.784 billion USD, Laos exported 3,760 billion USD worth of goods and imported 3.025 billion USD. Major exports being electricity, gold, cassava, gold ore, paper, bananas and garments. Major imports being petroleum, means of transport, spare parts, machinery parts, construction equipment and electrical appliances. Many commodities with high production and high export volumes are: gold, which increased more than 4 times, electrical appliances were up by 50.8%, cassava were up by 31%, bananas were up by 26% and rubber was up by 103%,  over the same periods last year.