VIENTIANE, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment continues efforts to enhance cooperation in response to challenges in implementing Lao government's socio-economic development plan up to 2020.
Representatives of the ministry and other authorities met in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday and reviewed the implementation of a development index for the government's 2018-2019 socio-economic development plan which was approved by the National Assembly on Nov. 28, 2018, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Tuesday.
The meeting's discussions also covered executing development plans in 2020.
Lao Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Kikeo Chanthaboury chaired the meeting and called on the authorities to work together to put plans in place and provide the necessary documentation for development plans.
Laos has suffered widespread flooding in six central and southern provinces, crop and livestock diseases, as well as dengue fever outbreaks. However, these would not significantly impact development plans for services, investment, production, and poverty reduction which were still being carried out effectively.
According to the ministry, under the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2016-2020, Laos would need capital investment of 45.5 trillion Lao kip (some 5.3 billion U.S. dollars), equal to 26 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to ensure economic growth of at least 6.7 percent by 2020.
Of this amount, about 50 percent will be sourced from domestic and foreign investments, notably hydropower, development of special and specific economic zones, as well as the processing industry and tourism.
Some 22 percent will come from the banking sector, 11 percent from the national budget and the rest from Official Development Assistance, according to the report.
Over the past four years, Lao economy has faced challenges as a result of revenue shortfalls and external impacts, particularly the falling price of commodities and minerals, which are among the country's primary income earners, said the report.
