Economy and industry

Waking up to a misty skyline resembling the mysterious town of Silent Hill, a survival horror video game, with the haze foreshadowing obscured dangers lurking in thick smog, is jarring for all Bangkok residents. The level of particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 ...

The World Bank has classified Laos as a lower-middle-income economy in its latest classification for the 2020 fiscal year. The bank classifies the world’s economies into four income groups, namely high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low, based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in U.S. dollars. Lower middle-income economies are those ...

A new financing package of $212.5 million (£162m) has been announced to support climate-friendly projects in Vietnam. The funding from IFC, a member of the World Bank, will enable VPBank to expand its lending to small and medium businesses and boost financing for projects that help reduce carbon ...

The construction of the Don Sahong hydropower dam in Laos has affected the habitats of Mekong River dolphins, causing their numbers to dwindle in Stung Treng province. The dwindling numbers are causing a decline in tourists who wish to see them, resulting in loss of ...

For more than half a century, January meant prime fishing season for Pang Bin. He took his wooden boat out into Cambodia’s largest lake, his catches and their sales sustaining his family for much of the year. This month, the 75-year-old decided to call it quits, ...

Expert geologists have often pointed to the danger of earthquakes happening in the region where the main stream Xayaburi Dam was located. This region in Northern Laos is known to be geologically unstable.  Professor Punya Charusiri PhD of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok has observed: “The Xayaburi dam ...

Four ‘Friendship Bridges’ span the wide majestic Mekong River as it creates a meandering borderline between Thailand and Laos but just how friendly are these border bridges? When the first bridge opened back in 1994, spanning the river between Nong Khai in Thailand and Vientiane province ...

Thailand has received a score of 6 out of 10 in internet censorship, on a par with various regional peers, according to UK-based tech research firm Comparitech. A score of 6 was given to 17 countries, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam, out of 150 ...

Laos’ electricity exports to neighbouring countries and Asean states are expected to increase to about 20,000 MW between 2020 and 2030. Electricity is considered a huge revenue earner for Laos, especially through exports to neighbouring countries and Asean states such as Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar ...

If there were any doubts around China’s thinking about where to direct its money and influence in Southeast Asia, they were dispelled by the recent announcement that Xi Jinping would visit Myanmar on 17 and 18 January, the first state visit by a Chinese leader ...