Laos (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Dec. 2, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF10236 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Ben Dolven; Thomas Lum |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR or Laos) is
one of Asia’s poorest nations, and an authoritarian state, led
by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP). Political
participation is heavily limited. The LPRP selected all
candidates in the most recent National Assembly elections,
in 2021. Since a 1986 economic opening, Laos has
implemented market-based economic reforms, and in 2013,
joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Laos depends on foreign investment—much of it from the
People’s Republic of China (PRC or China)—for its
infrastructure development. This reliance, as well as rapidly
expanding trade with China, has made Laos one of the
Southeast Asian nations with the closest ties to Beijing.
Observers express concern that Laos’ borrowing has raised
its public debt to dangerous levels. According to an April
2024 World Bank report, Laos’ total public and publicly
guaranteed debt reached 110% of GDP in 2023. Successive
U.S. administrations and the U.S. Congress have expressed
concern about China’s use of loans and other investments to
influence or coerce foreign governments, and Congress has
enacted legislation to empower the U.S. government to
counter such influence.
Laos is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and served as the group’s 2024 chair.
Laos is also a partner in the U.S.-Mekong Partnership
(formerly called the Lower Mekong Initiative), a subregional foreign assistance effort launched by the U.S. State
Department in 2009, under which the United States
provides assistance to nations that rely on the Mekong
River for economic development.
