Resource information
The purpose of the Public Expenditure
and Financial Accountability (PEFA) assessment is to provide
the Government of Lao PDR (GOL) with a concise,
standardized, objective, indicator-led assessment of the
country's public financial management (PFM) systems to
provide a benchmark against which to measure the further
strengthening of Lao PFM. Partial assessments have been made
in the past. However, this is the first comprehensive
diagnosis covering the overall PFM system in Lao PDR. The
Lao PDR (current population 6 million) is on the United
Nations' (UN) 2008 list of least-developed countries
(LDCs), with average per-capita income of approximately
US$850. The Government of Lao's (GOL) objective is that
economic growth should lift the country out of this status
by 2020. The economy has been growing rapidly in the most
recent period: over 2000-08, Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
grew by 7 percent a year on average. Development of the
economy has depended particularly on the growth of mineral
and energy exports and of tourism, and on the development of
light manufacturing whose products are sold primarily in
South East Asian markets. The output of agriculture, which
continues to account for approximately 75 percent of
employment, has been growing but more slowly. The most
developed parts of the country are the flatter lands of the
Mekong valley, which also provide the bulk of tax revenues.
The remoter hill country areas remain engaged primarily in
subsistence agriculture and forestry activities.
