Workers have left their service jobs for jobs in food production and the self-employed, as inflation erodes wages.
Photo: Mundo © Bank Philippe Aramburu
The World Bank in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic introduced a series of immediate follow-up surveys in 2020 to monitor the social and economic effects of COVID-19 on Lao households. With the pandemic over, surveys continue to provide insights into existing economic challenges.
Hopes for an immediate economic recovery from the pandemic have been overshadowed by internal and external factors that threaten families’ living standards. At the domestic level, currency depreciation and peak inflation, resulting from high levels of external debt and low foreign exchange reserves, have led to an increase in the prices of imported fuel, food and medicine. The Laotian kip depreciated by 23% against the US dollar between January 2023 and February 2024, driving peak inflation, which stood at 25% in February 2024.
As economic activities have resumed, the new cost of living is having widespread effects, and ongoing surveys provide insight into the distribution of the impact on Laotian families. The first survey was conducted from June to July 2020, when Laos had just emerged from the first national COVID-19 lockdown. The second cycle ran from February to March 2021, a year after the pandemic. A third survey followed from April to May 2021, at the beginning of the second lockdown, and a fourth survey was conducted. It took place from October to November 2021, as lockdown measures began to ease. The fifth cycle took place from April to May 2022, the sixth from December to January 2023 and the seventh from May to June 2023. The eighth and final survey was conducted from January 21 to February 20, 2024.
This webpage provides links to the effects of all survey circulars, as well as a report on public service delivery and citizens’ expectations of the government’s reaction to COVID-19, based primarily on the effects of the second survey circular. The sixth circular accompanied by a qualitative survey, conducted at the end of 2022 to better understand how rural populations perceived the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the deteriorating economic situation, in particular the spiralling inflation.
The survey questionnaire is designed to cover topics such as access to basic foodstuffs, food insecurity, employment, the effect of inflation on households, businesses and family farms, economic activities and income, coping mechanisms, and access to social assistance. The effects of the next rounds of surveys will be published as soon as they are available.
Last Updated on April 8, 2024
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Last Updated on April 8, 2024
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April 9, 2024: Inflationary Adjustments Set Patterns in Laos, Hit the Poor the Hardest
September 19, 2023: Food costs families in Lao PDR despite falling inflation
May 8, 2023: Inflation limits Laotian families’ protection from COVID-19
6 July 2022: As the effects of COVID-19 subside, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic faces new challenges
1 September 2021: Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Economic fallout from COVID-19 has worsened, survey finds