Looming Debt Crunch Positions Laos as Next Possible Asia Default
- Weakening local currency, soaring oil prices hammering Laos
- ‘On the brink of default,’ Moody’s warns amid thin financing
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Laos, with dwindling cash reserves and surging inflation, is facing some of the same strains that pushed Sri Lanka to default and threatens Pakistan’s balance of payments.
Fuel shortages across the Southeast Asian country of 7.5 million people is the latest sign of distress, the result of elevated oil prices and a plunging currency. Most worrying is a debt load that dwarfs its cash pile, a challenge for the secretive communist regime that’s had an ironclad grip on power since 1975.