A pedestrians at a bus station in Vientiane, Laos, on Saturday, June 24, 2023.
Valeria Mongelli | Bloomberg | Getty Images
An alarming debt crisis has unfolded in Laos in recent years, raising worries about the tiny nation’s obligation to its biggest creditor China.
China became the largest foreign investor in Laos in late 2013 and since then, its influence has only continued to skyrocket.
A majority of Laos’ public debt, which the IMF estimates 122% of GDP this year, is owed to Beijing due to infrastructure deals under China’s Belt And Road Initiative, or BRI.
Laos borrowed billions from President Xi Jinping’s government to finance railways, highways and hydroelectric dams, depleting its foreign reserves in the process.
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Read the full article at: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/laos-is-spiraling-toward-a-debt-crisis-as-china-looms-large.html