The Vientiane Department of Public Works and Transport issued a notice temporarily banning the excavation and transportion of soil and sand throughout the capital throughout the rainy season, from 15 June to 15 October 2018.
Probably the Best Football Campaign Ever
The anticipated football craze is finally here and even better news for football fans is that they get a chance to score limited-edition merchandises from Carlsberg’s Summer Football Campaign. Football spirit is on full mode. The campaign calls out to beer lovers and football fans to collect their favorite country of either England, France, Germany, Brazil, Spain, Portugal or just all of them. But the question is… who are you rooting for?
Carlsberg – “Probably the Best Beer in The World” is celebrating the football event by featuring the mentioned six countries’ flag on its bottles and cans over Carlsberg’s signature hop leaf shape as limited-edition packaging. Let’s just mention that it’s probably the cutest thing ever. Have you seen it?
We have been spotting these cute can and bottle jersey shaped coolers at all these participating outlets, and we can’t get enough of the charm and football spirit.
Grab one to make your experience a little more fun – and join in on the celebrations at our top choices to watch the football craze! After all, it’s only here every four years so let’s celebrate it the right way.
For Huge Excitement and to Cheer on with a big crowd, come experience it at either Vientiane Center or ASEAN Mall.
WORLD CUP “BIG MATCH” DATES:
- 30/6/2018- Round 16
- 06/07/2018- Quarter Finals
- 07/07/2018- Quarter Finals
- 14/07/2018- Play Off
- 15/7/2018- FINAL
Our other top choices to cheer and experience the overall football spirit:
- O’Grady’s Irish Pub & Restaurant
- X2 Restaurant
- X3 Restaurant
- Sai Chai
- Bar The Way
- Bor Pen Yang
Get your adrenaline pumping and we will see you there!
This Week in Lao Social Media
Dolphins, elephants, and counterfeit notes dominated the Lao social media landscape this week, as well as a pair of metal flip-flops, and an honest stranger who faced the music after scratching someone’s car.
Lao People Are Paying Too Much For Rice
Lao people are paying some of the highest prices for rice in the region despite the country being a significant rice producer, according to the recently released World Bank Economic Monitor on Laos.
Rice is the country’s biggest agricultural commodity. The crop covers about 75% of arable land in the country and 90% of production is glutinous rice (also known as sticky rice).
The production meets 95% of domestic consumption along with 70% of Lao households’ caloric and protein intakes.
However, Lao rice is not competitive in foreign markets with only 5% being exported, mainly to the neighboring countries of China and Vietnam.
The retail price for second grade rice in Vientiane Capital is about US$0.85 per kilogram, the highest among countries in the region.
The World Bank analysis suggests that farmers have comparatively low profit margins, while consumers are paying one of the highest prices for rice in the region.
Key challenges for Lao rice value chains include production costs, accounting for 29% of the final consumer price, the relatively high cost of hired labor, a lack of mechanization and low yields.
Improvements will depend on more productive partnerships between farmers and millers as well as more streamlined business regulations, improved public services to enhance rice commercialization, and better access to finance. These efforts will reduce farm production costs and increase the quality of rice, addressing some of the sector’s key challenges, said the report.
To download the full World Bank Economic Report on Laos, click here.
Sources: World Bank Economic Report, Vientiane Times, Xinhua, VietnamPlus
FIFA 2018 Fans Must Legally Watch Games Only Through Exclusive Media Right Owner TVLAO
Restaurants, beer gardens and other entertainment venues that have the intention of publicly broadcasting the FIFA 2018 matches to their guests and customers are required to pay licensing fees in the amount of 5,000,000 kip (approximately US$595) to TVLAO, the sole company granted the exclusive right to broadcast the FIFA 2018 Games in Laos.
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism (MOICT) has issued a notice stating that all commercial venues that wish to display FIFA 2018 football games at their sites may not do so from any other broadcasting company or source other than TVLAO.
Furthermore, TVLAO has issued its own statement to all football enthusiasts in Laos, including individuals watching for personal entertainment, that they would be fined if they were found to be watching the FIFA 2018 games from other cable box devices other than the one provided by TVLAO.
Source: Laopost
World Bank Economic Report: Formal Vs. Informal Financial Services
A World Bank report released last week reports that “informal” financial services continue to play an important role in the lending sector in Laos despite the fervent growth of legal micro-finance institutions (MFIs) around the country.
According to the report, which employs data garnered from Lao authorities, the legal micro-finance sector saw rapid expansion around the country. The total assets of MFIs in Laos reached US$450 million by the middle of last year. This figure marked an 11 percent increase over the same period last year, accounting for about 3% of the country’s GDP.
The World Bank also mentioned that the proportion of Lao adults using at least one regulated financial service was 47% in 2014, higher than Myanmar (at 30%), but lower than Nepal (at 61%) during the same year. It is surprising, however, to note that despite the growth of banking and non-banking institutions in Laos, informal financial services continue to play a key role in lending money to a significant proportion of the population. The reported number of adults using unregulated financial services was as high as 60% in 2014, compared to 33% in Myanmar and 21% in Nepal.
The World Bank report further noted that the interest rates offered by informal finance services in Laos were higher than those of formal financial institutions. However, this has not discouraged people from using their services. The strength of informal financial services was that they imposed fewer procedural requirements (as opposed to formal banks and MFIs).
Lao officials admit that one of the primary concerns for businesses seeking access to business expansion capital was the unnecessarily high number of processes they have to undertake in order to apply for commercial loans.
The Lao government has promised to streamline the loan approval process to help businesses access funds to invest in and to expand their businesses.
The Governor of the Bank of the Laos, Somphao Phaysith, said that the central bank is borrowing US$300 million to boost the expansion of SMEs. Some observers note that massive injection of funds into the micro-economic sector may help Laos handle the issue of informal financial services.
The Lao Economic Monitor is published twice yearly by the World Bank office in Laos.
To download the report, click here.
Source: Vientiane Times
Laos’ Biggest Ever Sticky Rice Basket Presented by Inthira Group
Inthira Hotels & Restaurants presented Laos’ biggest ever basket of sticky rice (khao niao) at the opening of LAOFOOD 2018 Exhibition, held at the National Convention Centre in Vientiane from 7-9 July, while also taking home honors at the event’s hospitality and culinary competitions.
Laos Expresses Contentment With North Korean-US Summit
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Laos (MOFA) has issued a statement welcoming the recent outcome of the North Korean-US Summit held in Singapore last week.
