Vientiane (VNA) – The 12th National Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP), scheduled for January 6–8, will define Laos’s development goals for the next five years and its long-term vision towards the Party’s 100th anniversary, according to Khamphan Pheuinhavong, Chairman of the LPRP Central Committee’s Commission for Propaganda and Training.
Khamphan said the roadmap will be carried out through the Party’s third Political Platform, which outlines development orientations to 2055 – the LPRP's centenary, when Laos aims to become an upper-middle-income country and gradually approach the high-income status.
The platform identifies 11 major policies, including those on developing a socialist-oriented market economy; promoting industrialisation, modernisation and digital transformation; protecting the environment and responding to climate change; advancing socio-cultural development; boosting human development; strengthening national defence and security; building a clean and strong Party; developing a rule-of-law democratic state of the people; consolidating national unity; expanding the people’s mastery; and pursuing an active foreign policy in line with the LPRP’s external relations line.
For the next five years, Laos targets average annual GDP growth of at least 6%, with per capita GDP reaching 3,104 USD. State budget revenue is expected to reach 554.4 trillion LAK (about 25.2 billion USD), equivalent to at least 20.95% of GDP, while public debt is to be reduced to around 70% of GDP. Inflation is to be kept at about 5%, with foreign exchange reserves sufficient for at least five months of imports. Total investment capital is set to reach 636.178 trillion LAK, or at least 24% of GDP.
Laos’s 10th five-year socio-economic development plan also identifies six focal targets and 26 major programmes, focusing on economic growth, high-quality human resource development, improved living standards and sustainable poverty reduction, environmental protection and climate resilience, deeper regional and international integration, and enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of state governance./.
Laos posts significant achievements across sectors over past five years
Despite facing considerable challenges related to the economy, finance and currency, along with persistent social difficulties, Laos has successfully carried out the orientations and targets it set. Economic growth has been maintained, macroeconomic fundamentals have remained largely stable, inflation risks have been contained, and key economic indicators have gradually recovered and strengthened.
