Publication: Reducing Investment Climate Constraints to Higher Growth : Lao People's Democratic Republic Private Sector and Investment Climate Assessment
Loading...
Published
2007
ISSN
Date
2012-06-08
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
The survey on Lao private sector and investment climate covered 303 firms in six sectors and seven provinces (Vientiane City, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang, Luangnamtha, Xayaboury, Savannakhet, and Champassack). The survey included 246 firms in manufacturing covering wood processing, construction materials, garments, textiles/handicraft, and food and beverage sectors and 57 firms in tourism covering hotels, tour operators, and travel agencies. With the exception of the garment and wood processing sectors, which traditionally have larger firms and more foreign investment, most firms in the sample were domestic small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The survey provided three types of information useful for the Investment Climate Assessment: perceptions of firms operating in Lao PDR regarding the relative importance of investment climate constraints to their businesses; quantitative data on firms' performance and productivity; and comparator country information from their ICAs, for benchmarking Lao PDR's investment climate against regional standards.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank; Asian Development Bank. 2007. Reducing Investment Climate Constraints to Higher Growth : Lao People's Democratic Republic Private Sector and Investment Climate Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7591 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Mongolia - Promoting Investment and Job Creation : An Investment Climate Assessment and Trade Integration Study(Washington, DC, 2007)The aim of this report is to identify a set of concrete steps that the government of Mongolia might take to promote private-sector activity and greater integration with the global economy in a way that leads to job creation, broad-based growth and most importantly, poverty reduction. It does this by combining an assessment of the investment climate faced by firms (through analyses of firm and household surveys and supply chains in selected sectors) with a diagnostic trade integration study. The report is structured as follows. The second chapter lays out the context and background and describes some recent trends that give some indications of where things stand. This is followed in the third and fourth chapters, which constitute the core of the report, by a detailed mapping of the main aspects of the business environment and the setting for trade. The focus in these chapters is on the aspects of the business environment that most need improvement, and on the barriers to trade integration that are the most severe. The fifth chapter lays out the basic diagnosis. The sixth and seventh chapters then outline what the analysis indicates as the most important steps that need to be taken to improve the business environment and facilitate trade integration.Publication An Assessment of the Investment Climate in Nigeria(World Bank, 2009)Nigeria's vision of 2020 is a bold desire to be among the top twenty economies by the year 2020. The economy has posted impressive growth figures since 2003 driven by higher oil prices and a series of home-grown, economic reforms. The country is now firmly on the road to middle-income status. This Investment Climate Analysis is built on a 2,300 firm survey and provides evidence-based recommendations designed to support the vision 2020. Survey results represent investment climate status in Nigeria and are grouped by the following topics: firm productivity and business environment, comparison of state level investment climates, access to finance, entrepreneurship and managerial capacity in firms, and investment climate aspects. The authors conclude that stakeholder consultations on the diagnostic work, policy assessment, and design would improve Nigeria's investment climate.Publication Bank Financing to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01)The objective of this paper is to shed light on current trends and policy challenges in the financing of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by banks in Colombia. The paper is motivated by the well-documented financing gap for SMEs, whose causes are complex and multi-dimensional. Based on data collection and interviews with the authorities, a representative sample of banks, and other relevant entities, the authors analyze the evolution and characteristics of this market in recent years. Bank financing to SMEs is becoming a strategic segment for Colombian credit institutions. The current business and risk management models for SME lending are still relatively underdeveloped, but greater sophistication is expected as the market matures. Important institutional and policy constraints to SME lending remain, but are not yet binding. In order to address these constraints before they "begin to bite", the authors identify and describe a potential policy reform agenda.Publication Drivers and Obstacles to Banking SMEs : The Role of Competition and the Institutional Framework(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008-12)This paper studies the factors banks perceive as drivers and obstacles to financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the role of competition and the institutional framework. Using a survey of banks in Argentina and Chile, the paper shows that, despite alleged differences in the countries' environments regarding rules, regulations, and ease of doing business, SMEs have become a strategic segment for most banks in both countries. In particular, banks have begun to target SMEs due to the significant competition in the corporate and retail sectors. They perceive the SMEs market as highly profitable, large, and with good prospects. Moreover, banks are developing coping mechanisms to overcome the particular institutional obstacles present in each country and to compete for SMEs. Banks' interest in SMEs is not based on government programs, yet policy action might help reduce the cost of providing financing, especially long-term lending.Publication Angola : Investment Climate Assessment(Washington, DC, 2007-10)Successive armed conflicts, which lasted almost three decades after independence, have devastated Angola and its economy. However, since the peace accord of April 2002, Angolans have begun a transition toward national reconciliation and lasting peace. For the Government of Angola (GoA), one of the main challenges ahead is to reconstruct the economy and reunite society after a war that has left its most visible marks on the millions of displaced that are returning to their areas of origin and demobilized former combatants that will need to be reintegrated into society. Peace in Angola has come hand in hand with a surge in Gross National Income (GNI) per capita over the past years: per capita GNI rose from USD 470 in 2001 to about USD 1,980 in 2006, primarily as a result of increased oil production and revenue. Even though the national income is currently above the average level in Sub-Saharan Africa, Angola was nonetheless ranked 161st out of 177 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) of 2006. This underscores the magnitude of Angola's challenges in the social sphere. The World Bank's Interim Strategy Note (ISN) of February 2005 was set to support the government's program for 2005-2006 and emphasized the need to encourage the private sector's role through a stronger public/private dialogue frame work and a more propitious operating environment for the private sector. The World Bank's ISN of May 2007 reinforced this need, whilst at the same time recognizing that there has been progress: 'the GoA has adopted legislation to streamline the regulatory framework and clarify land rights and has improved customs procedures. It has also taken steps to improve access to financial services, including microfinance, by allowing new entrants into the market. Investments in infrastructure, including roads, railways, and electricity generation and transmission will also improve the investment climate'.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Direct and Indirect Impacts of Transport Mobility on Access to Jobs: Evidence from South Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-12)Access to jobs is essential for economic growth. In Africa, unemployment rates are notably high. This paper reexamines the relationship between transport mobility and labor market outcomes, with a particular focus on the direct and indirect effects of transport connectivity. As predicted by theory, wages are influenced by the level of commuting deterrence. Generally, higher earnings are associated with longer commute times and/or higher commuting costs. Local accessibility is also important, especially for individuals with time constraints. Both direct and indirect impacts are found to be significant in South Africa, where job accessibility has been challenging since the end of apartheid. For the direct impact, the wage elasticity associated with commuting costs is significant. Returns on commute are particularly high for women. Local accessibility to socioeconomic facilities, such as shops and health services, is also found to have a significant impact, consistent with the concept of mobility of care. To enhance employment, therefore, it is crucial to connect people not only to job locations but also to various socioeconomic points of interest, such as markets and hospitals, in an integrated manner. This integration will enable individuals to spend more time working and commuting longer distances.Publication Taxes, Spending, and Equity: International Patterns and Lessons for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-17)Taxes and public spending underpin the basic administration of government and finance the human capital and infrastructure investments needed for economic growth. They can also have a significant and immediate impact on poverty and inequality. The question of how public finance can support longer-term growth objectives while promoting equity has become even more important in recent years, given the high fiscal deficits and debt levels most countries emerged with in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included the increasing cost of debt and the need to restart environmentally sustainable growth while helping households address the learning losses and other social scars caused by the pandemic. This paper examines the global evidence on which households pay which taxes and who benefits from what spending, and critically, the net effect on different households across the income distribution. The aim is to identify the patterns and lessons that emerge for designing progressive fiscal policies. A global dataset of 96 countries is assembled, spanning all regions of the world and all national income levels, grounded in the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) approach to fiscal incidence.Publication Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-04)Grounded in new evidence from satellite data, “Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future” presents the first global assessment of freshwater reserves over the past two decades. The findings expose an alarming trend of “continental drying,” a persistent long-term decline in freshwater availability across vast landmasses. Not only are droughts and deluges becoming more unpredictable, but the total amount of freshwater available for use has also significantly declined. Continental drying, driven by global warming, worsening droughts, and unsustainable water and land use, is a silent but accelerating crisis—largely unknown to the public—that reshapes the global water narrative. Continental drying raises profound risks. This report reveals new empirical evidence showing how freshwater depletion leads to major job losses, reduced incomes, wildfires, and biodiversity threats. In the long term, the combined effects of drying and warming could push societies toward a tipping point where damage accelerates rapidly and adaptation becomes increasingly difficult. Against the backdrop of continental drying, global water consumption rose by 25 percent between 2000 and 2019, with about a third of this increase occurring in regions already experiencing drying. Compounding the pressure, a substantial share of water use in drying regions remains inefficient. Continental Drying identifies hot spots where rising demand and declining supply converge and explores where and how water savings can be realized. This report recommends a three-pronged approach to address the crisis: managing demand, augmenting water supply, and improving water allocation. Five cross-cutting levers—strengthening institutions, reforming water tariffs and repurposing subsidies, adopting water accounting, leveraging data and technological innovations, and valuing water in trade—are essential for effective implementation and to attract private investment to finance the approach. Beyond water, addressing trade barriers, investing in education and skills development, and improving access to markets and financial services are critical for strengthening job and livelihood resilience amid a continental drying crisis.Publication Kyrgyz Republic Country Climate and Development Report(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-11-03)This Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) on the Kyrgyz Republic aims to support the country’s development goals amid a changing climate. The CCDR considers two policy scenarios up to 2050: the business-as-usual (BAU) and high-growth scenarios. As it quantifies the likely impacts of climate change on the Kyrgyz economy between now and 2050, the report highlights key government actions to best prepare for and adapt to climate impacts (referred to as “with adaptation” measures), with a particular focus on the time horizon up to 2030. The CCDR also outlines a path to net zero emissions by 2050 (referred to as “with mitigation” measures, “decarbonization,” or, simply, “net zero 2050”), highlighting associated development co-benefits.