Category: Business

The government is providing some oil importing companies with at least 50% of foreign currencies they need to procure oil from abroad.

“This is a short-term measure to ensure people have enough fuel to use,” Minister of Industry and Commerce Khampheng Xaysompheng said on Tuesday. “As for the medium-term measure, the government will negotiate with new oil exporting countries.”

Meanwhile, as for the long term measure, the government will provide oil importing companies with 100% of the hard currencies they need to ensure oil supply meets domestic demand.

The Lao PDR imports 100% of its fossil fuels from abroad, including Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Rising oil prices in the world market, wide gap between official and parallel market exchange rates, and Covid-19 restrictions have led many companies to losses.

Fuel shortage in the country is also attributed to smuggling, hoarding and failure to comply with the government’s guidelines on fuel prices of some petroleum companies as well as the lack of hard currencies in the country.

Source: Lao News Agency

Laos recorded an export value of more than US$7.6 billion with goods shipped to more than 90 countries worldwide last year, according to the Lao Trade Portal, Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Laos’ major export markets included Thailand with US$2.8 billion, China US$2.2 billion, Vietnam US$1.2 billion, Australia US$350 million, Cambodia US$160 million and Switzerland US$116 million.

Main exports included electricity valued at US$2.2 billion, gold and silver US$ 962 million, paper and paper products US$529 million, gold ores US$ 329 million, wood pulps US$329 million, and waste paper US$297 million.

Source: Lao News Agency

Laos logged a trade surplus of around US$100 million in the first quarter of 2022, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Laos’ total value of imports and exports in the first quarter of the year reached US$1.1 billion including US$600 million for exports and US$500 million for imports.

Main exports included mixed gold, gold bars, paper and paper products, bronze ores, wood pulps and waste paper, rubber, cassava, bananas, clothing, fertilizers and sugar.

Meanwhile imports were dominated by automobiles, diesel, mechanical equipment, auto parts, steel and steel products, plastics, plastic utensils, petroleum products, premium gasoline, wood pulps and food industry wastes, and chemical products.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) committed US$22.8 billion from its own resources in 2021 to help Asia and the Pacific tackle the immediate effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and promote a green recovery.

Financial and operational results were published today in ADB’s Annual Report 2021. The report summarizes how ADB supported its developing member countries (DMCs) through a combination of finance, knowledge, and partnerships.

“ADB firmly believes that addressing the impacts of the pandemic and supporting long-term development are not mutually exclusive,” said ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. “Our sustained COVID-19 response has laid the foundations for an inclusive, resilient, and green recovery, ensuring progress toward our Strategy 2030 objectives.”

The US$22.8 billion committed in 2021 includes loans and guarantees, grants, equity investments, and technical assistance provided to governments and the private sector. In addition, ADB mobilized US$12.9 billion in co-financing.

Of ADB’s 2021 commitments, US$13.5 billion, or 59%, was for pandemic response, although many of these commitments, such as strengthening the health sector, will also help the region long after the pandemic is over.

The bank’s pandemic response support included US$4.9 billion in rapid disbursing financing for governments to support structural reforms and address debt sustainability. The financing included US$4.6 billion in policy-based lending and US$250 million through the COVID-19 Pandemic Response Option.

As part of the pandemic response, ADB committed US$4.1 billion to enable the procurement and delivery of safe and effective vaccines for its DMCs. The bank also provided US$3.3 billion to the private sector to keep businesses open, trade flowing, and make medical products and services available. A broad range of knowledge support guided COVID-19 response and recovery plans.

Addressing longer-term development challenges, such as climate change, remained an important focus of ADB’s 2021 operations.

“The battle against climate change will be won or lost in Asia and the Pacific. To succeed, our region needs to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon future,” said Mr. Asakawa.

To help meet its new elevated ambition of US$100 billion in cumulative climate financing by 2030, the bank announced a series of financing initiatives to bolster the region’s low-carbon development. For example, ADB launched the Energy Transition Mechanism that will leverage private and public investments to finance the early retirement of coal-power assets, scale up clean and renewable energy solutions, and ensure the transition is just and affordable.

All of ADB’s 2021 commitments include elements that will specifically benefit women and girls. The bank also ramped up efforts to assist governments to mobilize domestic financial resources essential for sustainable growth, including through the launch of the Asia Pacific Tax Hub, a vehicle to support tax and related reforms region-wide.

ADB’s 2021 commitments were funded by its second-largest borrowing programme to date, which raised US$35.8 billion through the capital markets. ADB sold a record volume of thematic bonds last year and issued education bonds and blue bonds for ocean health for the first time.

The Annual Report also details a series of internal reforms underway to ensure ADB has the right skills, culture, structure, and tools to fulfill its mission.

ADB’s Annual Report 2021 is fully digital and is also available in a mobile-friendly digital format containing rich multimedia content. See www.adb.org/ar2021/digital

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty. Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Source: Lao News Agency

Many entrepreneurs of “One District, One Product” (ODOP) have been hard affected by the Covid-19 outbreak as reduction in sales has forced some to suspend their production.

A research, conducted recently by the Institute of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, on incentive policy for ODOP entrepreneurs hit by Covid-19 suggests that one of the biggest challenges is that the use of online technology to sell products by ODOP entrepreneurs remains extremely limited, therefore, the promotion of the use and capacity building of ODOP entrepreneurs with respect to the use of online tools for marketing and sales purposes is necessary and needs to be supported by relevant parties.

The survey suggests that 53 per cent of the respondents pointed out that access to low-interest loans remains the biggest problem for ODOP operators, followed by access to markets (46%), ODOP popularisation (39%) and promotion of ODOP consumption (33%).

Once asked what kinds of assistance from the government are most needed in the aftermath of Covid-19, the majority of the respondents (33) said they need a better access to markets, training on production techniques and management (32%), promotion of ODOP consumption (30%), and financial assistance for production capacity improvement (26%).

The study also suggests that market, funding, and training on ICT skills as well as assistance from the government sectors are necessary for ensuring commercial production of ODOPs that meet demands of domestic and export markets thus making ODOPs a sustainable source of revenues of the country.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Government of the Lao PDR has authorized the Wilaikul International Gold Mine Co., Ltd to conduct a 24-month feasibility study into the possibility of several investment projects in the country.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the study was signed in Vientiane on Apr 22 by Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Khamchan Vongsenboun, and President of the Wilaikul International Gold Mine Wiengchai Wilaikul in the presence of relevant officials of both sides.

“If these projects are economically possible, they will contribute significantly to promoting investment in various sectors and development in the Lao PDR,” said Mr Wiengchai Wilaikul.

Under the MoU, the private company will conducted a study into the construction of a gold melting factory, a solar panel factory, a soybean cooking oil factory and soy farming, a paper recycling factory, the exploration, mining and processing of gold ores and the establishment of a gold bank.

Source: Lao News Agency