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Govt pledges action to shore up flagging economy

The government has outlined the focus of its work plan for 2023, vowing to take stronger action to revitalise the stagnating economy, notably by stabilising currency exchange rates, curbing inflation, and amassing more revenue to boost its spending power.
The pledge is part of the government’s continuing efforts to fulfil the goals of its two national agendas, which aim to ease the country’s economic and financial difficulties and stem the rising tide of drug trafficking.

Mrs Thippakone Chanthavongsa.

“We will absolutely not allow our country to default on its debts,” Government Spokesperson Mrs Thippakone Chanthavongsa told a press conference held shortly after the government’s two-day open meeting wrapped up on Friday.
Chaired by Prime Minister Dr Sonexay Siphandone and attended by cabinet members, the Mayor of Vientiane, provincial governors and representatives of various state agencies, the meeting discussed ways to minimise the vulnerability of the country’s macro-economy to external shocks.
Although the economy has showed signs of recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of goods and services has increased significantly, with year-on-year inflation surging to 39.27 percent last month.
Meeting participants agreed to speed up the digitalisation of revenue collection and create new sources of revenue while working harder to minimise financial leaks.
A greater focus will also be placed on repaying money owed by the government to private companies that carried out state-funded development projects. The repayment of these debts would give these companies greater liquidity so they have sufficient capital to finance more development schemes.
In addition, the government will not take on any non-essential state-funded projects, but will instead concentrate on poverty reduction programmes.
Another priority on the programme for 2023 is the continued reform of state-owned enterprises, improvement of the investment climate, and a push for further progress in approved foreign-funded development projects.
Mrs Thippakone, who is also Deputy Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said it was essential to promote productivity, as well as the processing of agricultural produce for export, while also reducing imports.
The government meeting also endorsed five important documents.
The first was a report on the implementation of the government’s focal programmes for 2022 and the plan for 2023.
The second was a draft decree concerning the duties and responsibilities delegated to state sectors for the implementation of socio-economic development, budget and monetary plans for 2023.
The third was a report on the difficulties and challenges facing businesses in Laos, in which the sectors concerned were instructed to further improve the business environment and provide more support for business growth.
The fourth document was a report on Laos-Vietnam cooperation, which urged the sectors concerned to push for the continued progress of various development projects, including the Vung Ang seaport and Nongkhang airport in Huaphan province.
The final document was a report on revenue collection in 2022 and plans to digitalise revenue collection in 2023. The government will also strive to modernise operations at all international border crossings this year.


By Somsack Pongkhao
 (Latest Update January 23, 2023)

   

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