Vientiane mulls commercial industry development
Vientiane mulls commercial industry development
Planning and investment officials in Vientiane will focus on commercial industry development this year in an effort to attract more domestic and foreign investors.
Last year, there were a total of 1,074 projects, worth 24.8 trillion kip of domestic and foreign private investors registered to invest in Vientiane.
This was well in excess of the annual plan which targeted 14.8 trillion kip, the Vientiane Planning and Investment Department reported.
About 553 projects worth 1.7 trillion kip were approved by Vientiane authorities, of which two projects, valued at 413 billion kip were done via the concession system and 170 projects, worth 589 billion kip were undertaken via regular means.
Meanwhile the central level approved 521 projects at a cost of 23.1 trillion kip.
In addition, Vientiane has also received the government's investment budget to implement a total of 689 projects worth 136.5 billion kip.
Some 118 projects in total, worth 18 billion have been postponed, while the remaining projects, worth around 118.5 billion kip were implemented 100 percent.
According to eight commercial banks in Laos, the Agricultural Promotion Bank, Nayoby Bank, Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public (BCEL), ECLEDA Bank, Lao Development Bank, Phongsavanh Bank, ST Bank and Lao Construction Bank last year, they released a combined total of 9.51 trillion kip of loans to customers in Vientiane.
These figures exceeded the annual plan of seven trillion kip, the department noted.
Most of the loans were released for road and bridge construction projects, commercial products and service projects as well as agricultural endeavours.
Last year, Vientiane planned to invest 13.4 trillion kip in socio-economic development but in fact was able to invest almost 37 trillion kip, or almost three times that which was planned.
Investment helped the Vientiane economy expand by about 10.92 percent and this year, Vientiane officials are aiming for growth to hit 11 percent.
The expected GDP value will reach 41.6 trillion kip with an average capita income of US$5,150.
To reach the target, Vientiane must invest a total of 14.9 trillion kip in socio-economic development, of which 103 billion kip shall come from the state budget, representing 0.7 percent of the total.
Private domestic and foreign investment represented 11 trillion kip while the remainder came from grant assistance, low interest loans and bank investments.
