VIENTIANE, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Public debt that has been accumulating for years to the present high level will be considerably lowered in five years, Lao Prime Minister (PM) Thongloun Sisoulith has said at a recent meeting.
"Debt has been heavily accumulated over the past years. It will take us at least five years to allocate funds for repayment and overcome the debt," the PM said.
As of the 2015-2016 fiscal year, an initial summary report showed that 986 state-invested projects had accrued debt, reported Lao state-run Vientiane Times on Monday.
The projects, whose construction is complete, cost 5.662 trillion Lao kip (nearly 693.2 million U.S. dollars). Of this amount, the government has paid just over 2.550 trillion Lao kip (nearly 312.2 million U.S. dollars) of the debt, representing just 45 percent of the total, according to a report on the 2015-2016 socio-economic development plan.
The above-mentioned total debt excludes some of the debts accumulated and caused by expenditure on natural disaster recovery, according to the report.
Thongloun said more money has been sourced to repay debts since the government took tough action to properly collect revenue and close loopholes that allow revenue leaks.
The PM pledged to implement measures to ensure that disbursement for the remaining debts would be made in a transparent manner. He said many investors who paid for a project to be carried out on the understanding that the government would reimburse them later, are still waiting to be repaid. Enditem
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