Strengthening Finance Sector Stability to Support Debt Management (ADB-58194-001)

Countries
  • Laos
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 19, 2024
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Laos - Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Law and Government
  • Technical Cooperation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 1.50 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 1.50 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Mar 24, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Sep 20, 2024

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the technical assistance (TA) will support the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (BOL) in improving the country's debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability. It will strengthen the central bank financial sector framework and related policies, as well as its regulatory, supervisory, analytical, and monitoring capacities. Since the early 2010s, economic structural challenges have undermined economic growth prospects in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) by causing long-standing current account deficits, draining foreign exchange reserves, depreciating the Laotian kip, and raising inflation. Behind these macroeconomic challenges are excessive government borrowing and repayment obligations to finance increasing external public sector debts, at least in part. These have been on the rise as the relatively underdeveloped local capital markets have forced the government to fund its needs using external sources.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

According to the Technical Assistance Report:

Environment: Not Applicable
Involuntary Resettlement: Not Applicable
Indigenous Peoples: Not Applicable

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The TA financing amount is $1,500,000, which will be financed on a grant basis by ADB’s Technical Assistance Special Fund (TASF 7) from debt management set-aside.

The government and BOL will provide counterpart support in the form of counterpart staff, office space, office supplies, administrative assistance, domestic transportation, technical guidance to the TA consultants, report consolidation and translation, other logistical and administrative support, and other in-kind contributions.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

The Bank of the Lao P.D.R. is the central bank of Laos. It is also the bank of last resort, controlling the money supply, managing the country's reserves, and supervising the commercial banks operating in Laos.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Client -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Project Officer: Peter Rosenkranz
Designation: Senior Financial Sector Specialist - Asian Development Bank
Email: prosenkranz@adb.org

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

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