ly on its trade with Thailand, it was damaged by the regional
financial crisis beginning in 1997. Government mismanagement
deepened the crisis, and from June 1997 to June 1999 the Lao kip
lost 87% of its value. Laos' foreign exchange problems peaked in
September 1999 when the kip fell from 3,500 kip to the dollar to
9,000 kip to the dollar in a matter of weeks. Now that the currency
has stabilized, however, the government seems content to let the
current situation persist, despite limited government revenue and
foreign exchange reserves. A landlocked country with a primitive
infrastructure, Laos has no railroads, a rudimentary road system,
and limited external and internal telecommunications. Electricity is
available in only a few urban areas. Subsistence agriculture
accounts for half of GDP and provides 80% of total employment. For
the foreseeable future the economy will continue to depend on aid
from the IMF and other international sources; Japan is currently the
largest bilateral aid donor; aid from the former USSR/Eastern Europe
has been cut sharply.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $9 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2000 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 51%

industry: 22%

services: 27% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: 46.1% (1993 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%:
4.2%

highest 10%: 26.4% (1992)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 33% (2000 est.)

Labor force: 1 million - 1.5 million

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 80% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate: 5.7% (1997 est.)

Budget: revenues: $211 million

expenditures: $462 million, including capital expenditures of $NA
(FY98/99 est.)

Industries: tin and gypsum mining, timber, electric power,
agricultural processing, construction, garments, tourism

Industrial production growth rate: 7.5% (1999 est.)

Electricity - production: 792 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel: 2.78%

hydro: 97.22%

nuclear: 0%

other: 0% (1999)

Electricity - consumption: 173.6 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - exports: 705 million kWh (1999)

Electricity - imports: 142 million kWh (1999)

Agriculture - products: sweet potatoes, vegetables, corn, coffee,
sugarcane, tobacco, cotton; tea, peanuts, rice; water buffalo, pigs,
cattle, poultry

Exports: $323 million (f.o.b