Laos Eliminates Minimum Registered Capital Requirement for Foreign Investment

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Last week, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued a notification, No.2633/cabinet/MOIC to all Industry and Commerce offices in Vientiane Municipality, provinces and districts to strictly implement the dissolution of the minimum registered capital requirement for foreign investment in the activities under the General Business list such as; manufacturing factory, training provider, real estate, restaurant etc. However, a minimum registered capital is still required for certain activities under the Controlled Business List which are governed by specific sector regulations.

This is the first step towards enforcing the implementation of the Investment Law (amendment) No. 14/NA. The previous Investment law of 2009 required foreign investors to contribute a minimum registered capital of 1 billion kip, or 120,000 USD in order to establish a business in General Business. This has been eliminated by the new Investment Law 2016.

For more information visit: http://www.erm.gov.la/index.php/en/about-us

Source: ECCIL

4 COMMENTS

  1. Hello. Under the new Investment Law 2016, can an American investment banking company come to Laos to open up a branch office, and conduct business in Laos in connection with mortgage-backed security (MBS) …this type of asset-backed security is secured by a mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are sold to a group of individuals (a government agency or investment bank) that securitizes, or packages, the loans together into a security that investors can buy. The mortgages of an MBS may be residential or commercial.

    Thank you kindly.

    • Hello Mr. Phoneprasith Dumas,

      Yes under laws of Lao PDR, it is possible to set up a investment banking company to deal with mortgage based securities. The minimum capital requirement threshold ha been waived under the new investment law. However, there are certain compliance requirement both under Investment Law and Law on Commercial Banks and related regulations.

      I am presently working with a leading legal and tax consulting firm based in Vientiane, Lao PDR. If you are interested in obtaining further details please contact me at sibasish.sibon@gmail.com