of mission: Ambassador Patricia M. HASLACH
embassy: 19 Rue Bartholonie, B. P. 114, Vientiane
mailing address: American Embassy, Box V, APO AP 96546
telephone: [856] (21) 212581, 212582, 212585
FAX: [856] (21) 212584

Flag description:
three horizontal bands of red (top), blue (double width), and red
with a large white disk centered in the blue band

Economy Laos

Economy - overview:
The government of Laos - one of the few remaining official
Communist states - began decentralizing control and encouraging
private enterprise in 1986. The results, starting from an extremely
low base, were striking - growth averaged 7% in 1988-2001 except
during the short-lived drop caused by the Asian financial crisis
beginning in 1997. Despite this high growth rate, Laos remains a
country with a primitive infrastructure; it 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. The economy will continue to benefit from
aid from the IMF and other international sources and from new
foreign investment in food processing and mining.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $10.32 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.5% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $1,700 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 49.4%
industry: 24.5%
services: 26.1% (2003 est.)

Population below poverty line:
40% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 3.2%
highest 10%: 30.6% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
37 (1997)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
15.3% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
2.6 million (2001 est.)

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

Unemployment rate:
5.7% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $298.5 million
expenditures: $429.9 million, including capital expenditures of NA
(2003 est.)

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

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

Industrial production growth rate:
9.7% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production:
1.317 billion kWh (2