Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis

Lao P.D.R.’s risks of external and overall debt distress continue to be assessed as high. Under the revised low-income country debt sustainability framework (LIC DSF), its debt carrying capacity has deteriorated and most external and total public d...

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Main Authors: World Bank, International Monetary Fund
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/441821570771074432/Lao-Peoples-Democratic-Republic-Joint-World-Bank-IMF-Debt-Sustainability-Analysis-August-2019
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32557
id okr-10986-32557
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-325572021-05-25T09:28:38Z Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis World Bank International Monetary Fund DEBT SERVICE BURDEN CONTINGENT LIABILITY DEBT DISTRESS EXTERNAL DEBT PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT PUBLIC AND PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBT SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS RISK ASSESSMENT FISCAL POLICY Lao P.D.R.’s risks of external and overall debt distress continue to be assessed as high. Under the revised low-income country debt sustainability framework (LIC DSF), its debt carrying capacity has deteriorated and most external and total public debt indicators breach their respective indicative thresholds and benchmarks under the baseline scenarios. External debt indicators are most vulnerable to shocks to exports and depreciation of the currency. Public and external debt indicators are most sensitive to the contingent liabilities shock, while recent natural disasters underscore the need for strengthening buffers. The low level of reserves adds to these vulnerabilities. Factors, such as the large share of electricity export earnings under long-term intergovernmental power purchase agreements, and a strong and growing electricity exports market help mitigate risks, keeping the debt outlook sustainable. Market access is being maintained, around 65 percent of external debt is concessional, and the stock of expenditure arrears is declining. Rebuilding fiscal space, adopting clear guidelines for sovereign debt issuance and guarantees, assessing risks from contingent liabilities, and improving debt management are immediate priorities. Assessing and targeting infrastructure projects with high growth and social returns and financing these with concessional financing would benefit debt sustainability. Strengthening the business environment and governance, would improve the investment outlook, help diversify and make growth more inclusive. Increasing the export base, continuing to maximize the proportion of concessional loans and improving primary deficits would help to keep the debt burden contained. 2019-10-17T17:48:07Z 2019-10-17T17:48:07Z 2019-08 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/441821570771074432/Lao-Peoples-Democratic-Republic-Joint-World-Bank-IMF-Debt-Sustainability-Analysis-August-2019 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32557 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Debt and Creditworthiness Study East Asia and Pacific Lao People's Democratic Republic
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic DEBT SERVICE BURDEN
CONTINGENT LIABILITY
DEBT DISTRESS
EXTERNAL DEBT
PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT
PUBLIC AND PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBT
SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS
RISK ASSESSMENT
FISCAL POLICY
spellingShingle DEBT SERVICE BURDEN
CONTINGENT LIABILITY
DEBT DISTRESS
EXTERNAL DEBT
PUBLIC SECTOR DEBT
PUBLIC AND PUBLICLY GUARANTEED DEBT
SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS
RISK ASSESSMENT
FISCAL POLICY
World Bank
International Monetary Fund
Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
geographic_facet East Asia and Pacific
Lao People's Democratic Republic
description Lao P.D.R.’s risks of external and overall debt distress continue to be assessed as high. Under the revised low-income country debt sustainability framework (LIC DSF), its debt carrying capacity has deteriorated and most external and total public debt indicators breach their respective indicative thresholds and benchmarks under the baseline scenarios. External debt indicators are most vulnerable to shocks to exports and depreciation of the currency. Public and external debt indicators are most sensitive to the contingent liabilities shock, while recent natural disasters underscore the need for strengthening buffers. The low level of reserves adds to these vulnerabilities. Factors, such as the large share of electricity export earnings under long-term intergovernmental power purchase agreements, and a strong and growing electricity exports market help mitigate risks, keeping the debt outlook sustainable. Market access is being maintained, around 65 percent of external debt is concessional, and the stock of expenditure arrears is declining. Rebuilding fiscal space, adopting clear guidelines for sovereign debt issuance and guarantees, assessing risks from contingent liabilities, and improving debt management are immediate priorities. Assessing and targeting infrastructure projects with high growth and social returns and financing these with concessional financing would benefit debt sustainability. Strengthening the business environment and governance, would improve the investment outlook, help diversify and make growth more inclusive. Increasing the export base, continuing to maximize the proportion of concessional loans and improving primary deficits would help to keep the debt burden contained.
format Report
author World Bank
International Monetary Fund
author_facet World Bank
International Monetary Fund
author_sort World Bank
title Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
title_short Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
title_full Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
title_fullStr Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Lao People's Democratic Republic - Joint World Bank-IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis
title_sort lao people's democratic republic - joint world bank-imf debt sustainability analysis
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/441821570771074432/Lao-Peoples-Democratic-Republic-Joint-World-Bank-IMF-Debt-Sustainability-Analysis-August-2019
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32557
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