VIENTIANE, Dec 16 (NNN-KPL) – The Lao government will strengthen external cooperation with different countries, in the hope of attracting investments totaling 43.95 trillion Lao kips (3.872 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 22.87 percent of GDP, in 2022.
In addition, investments in the budget will total 3.95 trillion Lao kips (348 million U.S. dollars) or 8.99 percent of the total for government-invested projects, with Official Development Assistance (ODA) expected to contribute 6.750 trillion Lao kips (594 million U.S. dollars), or 15.36 percent of the total for government-financed projects.
Domestic and foreign private investment projects are expected to be valued at 29.42 trillion Lao kips (2.592 billion U.S. dollars), or 66.93 percent of the total for government-owned investment projects, local daily, Vientiane Times, reported today.
Investments from other sources are expected to contribute at least 3.83 trillion Lao kips (337 million U.S. dollars), or 8.71 percent of the overall value of investments.
These figures were part of a report provided by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Investment, Sonexay Siphandone, during a briefing for Prime Minister, Phankham Viphavanh.
He presented the report after chairing the annual meeting of the planning, investment and finance sectors on Tuesday.
Sonexay said in the report that, the implementation of the national socio-economic development plan for 2021, faced severe challenges due to uncertainty in the world economy and various internal factors.
“However, the two sectors were able to achieve several outstanding results during the implementation of the plan for 2021, mainly the formulation and amendment of regulations, and translating various existing regulations under the law into practical action,” he said.
In 2021, several important laws were framed and amended, including the law on taxation, the Valued-Added Tax (VAT) law, the excise law, the law on budget, and several more laws used as references for revenue collection.
In 2022, the government will strive to increase the GDP by at least 4.5 percent.– NNN-KPL
