Laos Economy - 1986

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

GNP: $765 million, $220 per capita (1984 est.)

Natural resources: tin, timber, gypsum, hydroelectric power

Agriculture: main crops—rice (overwhelmingly dominant), corn, vegetables, tobacco, coffee, cotton; formerly self-sufficient; food shortages (due in part to distribution deficiencies) include rice; an illegal producer of opium poppy and cannabis for the interna tional drug trade

Major industries: tin mining, timber, green coffee, electric power

Shortages: capital equipment, petroleum, transportation system, trained personnel

Electric power: 175,100 kW capacity (1985); 905 million kWh produced (1985), 250 kWh per capita

Exports: $36 million (f.o.b., 1984 est.); electric power, forest products, tin concentrates; coffee, undeclared exports of opium and tobacco

Imports $98 million (c.i.f., 1984 est.); rice and other foodstuffs, petroleum products, machinery, transportation equipment

Major trade partners: imports—Thailand, USSR, Japan, France, China, Vietnam; exports—Thailand, Malaysia

Aid: economic commitments—Western (non-US) countries ODA and OOF (1970-83), $386 million; US (FY70-79), $276 million; military—US assistance $1 1 billion (1970-75)

Budget: (1979 est.) receipts, $100 million; expenditures, $191 million; deficit, $91 million

Monetary conversion rate official—10 kips=US$l; commercial—35 kips=US$l; inward remittances—108 kips=US$l (December 1985)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

Laos (continued}

NOTE: The information regarding Laos on this page is re-published from the 1986 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Laos 1986 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Laos 1986 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.