VIENTIANE, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Laos needs about 46,500 billion Lao kip (over 5.2 billion U.S. dollars) of investment or 27 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to realize its development target of 6.5 percent for 2020, the government has said.
Of this amount, 4,750 billion Lao kip (some 546 million U.S. dollars), or 10.2 percent of the total, will be taken from the domestic budget, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Planning and Investment Sonexay Siphandone informed the National Assembly last week.
Lao government's investment using Official Development Assistance (ODA) is 8,125 billion Lao kip (some 917 million U.S. dollars), amounting to 17.5 percent of total investment, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.
Investment by the domestic, private and foreign sectors will be 23,125 billion Lao kip (over 2.6 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 49.7 percent of the total and 10,500 billion Lao kip (over 1.1 million U.S. dollars) or 22.6 percent of the total from financial and currency systems, the report said.
In 2020, Lao government will attempt to further grow the economy, with the growth forecast for GDP at least 6.5 percent, GDP per capita set to hit 177,780 billion Lao kip (around 20 billion U.S. dollars), and Gross National Income per capita reaching 2,161 U.S. dollars.
The agriculture, forestry and rural development sector should grow by 2.7 percent accounting for 15.20 percent of GDP, industry by 7.3 percent or 32.03 percent of GDP, and the services sector by 6.9 percent or 41.47 of GDP, in addition to 7.5 percent from tariffs or 11.31 of GDP, Sonexay said.
In 2019, Lao government initially forecast national GDP growth of at least 6.7 percent, with GDP per capita set to hit 2,726 U.S. dollars but now expects GDP to grow only 6.4 percent with 2.677 U.S. dollars per capita, he added.
The main reason for the downgrade in growth is the impact of flooding, disease outbreaks, and the longer than usual dry season.
The agriculture, forestry and rural development sector is expected to achieve the target at 2.8 percent, 7.1 percent for industry, 1.3 percent below the planned 8.3 percent. The services sector is expected to grow at 7 percent or 0.4 percent better than the projected 6.6 percent, while the customs sector is projected to reach the 7 percent target.
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