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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
The trade deficit increased from US$92.2 million in
1982 to
US$114.9 million in 1991, reaching a decade high of
US$151.9
million in 1987, the first year of the drought (see
table 11,
Appendix). Before 1987 the deficit had increased by an
average
annual rate of 10.9 percent, but after the introduction of
the New
Economic Mechanism and subsequent loosening of many
restrictions on
trade, it actually began to decrease at an annual average
of 7
percent, although in 1991 it increased slightly, by 3.2
percent.
The deficit was largely financed through external
assistance,
including direct grants and highly concessional loans, and
constituted approximately 16 percent of GDP in 1989-90. As
the
deficit decreased in response to increasing export
volumes, the
country's trade position also improved in terms of import
financing. Between 1982 and 1987, exports financed less
than onethird of imports, but beginning in 1990, import financing
improved
considerably, with exports financing over 40 percent of
imports.
This put Laos in a more secure position in view of sharply
decreased foreign aid from the nonconvertible currency
area.
Data as of July 1994
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