Will Laos default on its debt?
The country’s finances are in trouble, but it may yet turn the corner
Every day, a queue snakes out of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Vientiane, Laos’s capital. It is formed of Laotians hoping to apply for passports so that they can travel to neighbouring Thailand to work. But even those who obtain papers may not be able to make the trip. The Lao kip has lost 36% of its value against the dollar over the past year (see chart). Petrol is hard to find and increasingly unaffordable. Over the past six weeks Laotians have had to queue for hours to fill their tanks.
This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “On the edge”
From the July 2nd 2022 edition
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