All Comments for Laotians Feel The Pain of Rising Prices, Stagnant Wages

For expats Vientiane can be a relaxed and pleasant place to reside. Having lived there for months at a time I grow tired of the constant negative comments made about Laos by disgruntled foreigners many of whom become 'experts' on Laos after a few days of swilling beer in backpacker's cafes. That senior government officials at the apex of Laos society live better than street vendors is beyond doubt but doesn't that also apply in virtually every country in Asia and the West?

Jun 29, 2020 11:56 PM

Lao gov has no clues of how to run the country whatsoever. They only care about themselves and never mind that 80% of the people are very poor but they love to brag about how far they have come from 40 years ago. It didn't take Japan and South Korea that long to rebuild their countries. After 40 years what has Laos accomplished? Still don't even know how to make simple things such as fish sauce, or MSG, something that they use for their cooking every day - no wonder other people looked down on them. some Lao leaders became rich because they lied to the people about the money they received via aid packages from other countries. Yea! go ahead suck out all the blood from people while you can.. one day they will get you. We know you don't believe it when you go to the temple and pretend to be humble in front of the monks.


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Sep 27, 2016 09:15 AM

Regime change is urgently needed. The leaders of Laos are so selfish and corrupted. Shame on the leaders who drive the most expensive cars and let the citizens suffer.

Aug 29, 2016 10:10 AM

The real problem here is all the agriculture and farming done in Laos are exported to CHINA as there is an agreement with the Lao and China government to support China and in return China government will give Lao government under table.
This is true as I have relative who work in this area for Laos and say everything must be exported to China, therefore little is left for Lao thus the price will rise.

Aug 25, 2016 11:39 PM

The government should not only control the price of some necessity products, but also subsidy those products which are very important to people' daily lives such as gas, some types of meats, and medicine. This is to reduce cost of living for the people to have some money to spend on other things to make economy move forward

Aug 25, 2016 02:46 AM

Why shouldn't the vendors raise their prices?
They all want to drive $150,000 SUV's and own $1,000,000 homes just like most government officials. It is interesting to say that Laos is one of the poorest country in the world. But, when you are in Vientiane and other provinces, all you see are expensive cars on the road. I agree, if this is the definition of being poor, I would love to be poor. Personally, I think vendors should raise their prices by 10 fold so ordinary citizens can't afford to by anything and just let the economy implode. Then, it can really start all over again from scratch.

Aug 24, 2016 10:45 PM

When they need foods They're pouring money out of their country Laos to buy foods in Thailand When They are sick they're pouring money in Nongkhay Thailand Hospital to see the Doctors there and they complain they are Poor and most Government staffs drive BMW OR MERCERDEZ BENZ OR LAND ROVER and their Drinking water are Beer or wine or whisky. Who doesn't want to be Poor like that?

Aug 24, 2016 04:08 PM