Officials confer on draft government bond decree
Officials confer on draft government bond decree
The government will be able to raise extra capital and benefit more from the sale of bonds to domestic and foreign investors if there are regulations in place for their management.
Government officials and technical staff from the Lao Securities Exchange, Lao Securities Commission Office, enterprises and relevant sectors gathered in Vientiane on Thursday to discuss a draft Decree on Government Bonds before its proposal to the government for approval.
In the past, the government has issued the notes in Laos and overseas but failed to maximise the benefits and faced many challenges as there were no measures or principles in place governing the process.
The decree wou ld serve as a reference and guidelines for the government in selling its bonds to receive greater benefit and instil more confidence among domestic and foreign investors, said Deputy Minister of Finance MrSilaViengkeo, who chaired the meeting.
The draft decree had detailed rules, principles and conditions for selling and issuing government bonds through the Bank of the Lao PDR and the Lao Securities Exchange for raising capital and supplying the national budget to contribute to socio-economic development, he explained.
The draft of the decree had passed many discussion rounds from relevant sectors notably the Bank of the Lao PDR, the Securities Exchange and Ministry of Finance, which had agreed on the basic structure, content and draft according to the related regulations and previous feedback, MrSila said.
We also have the opportunity of learning lessons and the experiences of neighbouring countries and internationally, he added.
He believed the meeting would be useful for the Decree on Government Bonds by getting the consensus of participants in order for it to be a reference for raising capital, attracting more investors as well as assisting bond market development in Laos.
Government bonds were an important tool in raising capital for development, national economic management and promoting social savings, Finance Policy Department Director General, DrBounleuaSinxayvoravong, said.
As a developing country Laos has important goals especially its socio-economic development strategy, graduating from least developed country status and promoting sustainable development and economic growth.
One of the important measures is government bond market expansion to strengthen capital raising for effective development, he said.
Laos currently needs a great deal of capital to implement numerous projects for national development.
The decree also aims to improve the operations and transparency of bond agencies in order to generate more confidence among domestic and foreign investors.
