Laos’ risks lost the decade unless China is planning debt

Keith Barney is an associate professor at the Australian National University. Roland Rajah is a main economist at the Lowy Institute.

Laos undergoes an acute debt crisis without apparent outcome. This is a shocking reversal of the optimism of the pre-cook-19 era, when economic growth was on average more than 7% per year. Although the advantages excluded a large part of the poor rural people, it was always one of the best growth records in the developing world. What went so badly, so quickly?