AEC Feed

A newly approved Lao presidential decree on service fees is set to give a significant boost to small and medium-sized (SME) and other promoted sectors, a government spokesman says.
The decree approved in principle last month by the cabinet at its monthly meeting is being revised in accordance with recommendations made by cabinets members, Chaleun Yiapaoher said recently.
“The decree will avoid duplicate fee charges,” said Chaleun, who is also the Minister to the Prime Minister’s Office.
He said the new regulation would provide bigger incentives to SMEs by cutting service fees.
 “The meeting agreed that fees should not be overcharged in order to stimulate the SMEs,” he said. – Vientiane Times

Trade deficits for US run across Asia
The United States imports more from Asian countries than it exports and runs trade deficits with most of them, except Singapore. The US has trade surplus of US$8 billion with Singapore.
While the US imports $985 billion from Asia, the total value of its exports to the region is US$452 billion, data from USA Census Bureau shows. The US shipped $116 billion of goods to China in 2016 but it imported goods worth $463 billion from that country. The result is a US trade deficit of $347 billion, the largest gap the US has with any trade partner.
Experts point out that a lower standard of living in China and an exchange rate partially fixed to the US dollar is the reason for the trade deficit.
Other Asian countries with which the US has a huge trade deficit with are Japan ($69 billion), Vietnam ($32 billion), South Korea ($28 billion), and Malaysia ($25 million).
With India, the US has a trade deficit of $24 billion, with Thailand $19 billion and with Taiwan and Indonesia it has $13 billion, respectively. Its trade deficit is below $2 billion with the Philippines, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal.
With Asean nations, US goods and services trade totalled $241.7 billion in 2013 while the US goods and services trade deficit with Asean countries was $40.7 billion in the same year, figures from the Office of the United States Trade Representative show. – dataLEADS

Vietnam eyes export boost through Chinese border
Vietnam should implement polices to increase its export volume through its border gates with China by taking advantage of the Vietnam-China Border Trade Agreement, experts said.
The agreement has created favourable conditions for Vietnam’s border provinces to change reasonably their economic structure, experts said.
However, many experts were of the opinion that Vietnam should limit shipments of small volume of exports without legal contracts, and promote large volume of exports, as small-scale exports did not provide enterprises with incentives to improve the quality of their goods and competitive ability.
Nguyen Van Hoi, deputy head of the Border and Mountainous Trade Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), said the trade agreement was signed in September 2016 with 16 articles to ensure an annual growth of 30 per cent in the trade value of goods exported through the border gates between Vietnam and China. – Viet Nam News

Rising dollar, baht impact Lao economy
The US dollar and Thai baht have continued to appreciate against the Lao kip over recent weeks, sparking concerns that the currency fluctuation could further drive up prices of products sold in Laos.
Bankers attributed depreciation of the Lao kip to the market mechanisms of supply and demand since Laos has faced falling foreign currency reserves over the past years.
Deputy Director of Lao Development Bank Sengphet Manivong told Vientiane Times on Wednesday that “Our foreign currencies reserves are dropping but our demand for foreign currencies for imports is rising, leading to appreciation of the Thai baht and US dollar.” – Vientiane Times