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Laos
Index
According to World Bank and International Monetary Fund
(IMF-- see Glossary)
estimates, merchandise exports grew from
about
US$40.0 million in 1982--the first year statistics were
available--
to about US$64.3 million in 1987, when droughts and lower
prices to
Thailand--the only buyer--cut revenue from exports of
hydroelectricity by 40 percent (see
table 10, Appendix).
As a
result, the value of exports dropped to US$57.8 million by
1988 but
recovered the following year and continued to expand,
reaching
US$77.9 million in 1991--an overall increase in exports of
95
percent from 1982 to 1991. Between 1982 and 1988--when
they
decreased by 10 percent--exports grew at an average annual
rate of
6.8 percent; however, after trade reforms were enacted,
the growth
rate increased--to 10.7 percent between 1988 and 1991.
Exports
increased again in 1992 and 1993 to an estimated US$133
million
(free on board) and US$203 million, respectively.
Principal exports are hydroelectricity and timber and
wood
products. In addition, much smaller quantities of coffee,
gypsum,
and tin concentrates are exported. The composition of
major export
commodities did not change throughout the 1980s; however,
the
relative importance of the commodities did. In 1987 lower
export
earnings from hydroelectricity precipitated a shift toward
exports
of forestry products. The value of hydroelectricity
exports
decreased from US$30 million in 1986 to US$12 million in
1987,
while the value of timber and wood exports increased from
US$8
million to US$33 million. Timber and wood products thus
replaced
hydroelectricity as the major export, and despite
restrictions on
logging and high export taxes implemented in 1989--which
decreased
its share of total exports by 36 percent-- timber and wood
products
remained the major export through 1992.
Data as of July 1994
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