Lao NA Vice President Saysomphone Phomvihan

A high-ranking official with the Lao State Inspection Agency says corruption cost the government over 100 billion kips in revenues loss last year, with the most corrupt departments causing the largest losses being those responsible for investment and revenues collection.

Although an anti-graft law was passed by Laos' National Assembly in 2006, its enforcement has been weak and ineffective. The head of the National Assembly Legal Commission acknowledges that corruption is hard to tackled in Laos because there is no real mechanism to monitor corruption throughout the society. Meanwhile,

Finance Minister Somdy Douangdy using an ATM

NA Vice President Saysomphone Phomvihan confirms that corruption is the major concern of most of the people who sent in their opinions and complaints to the National Assembly during its recent 5th ordinary session.

During the same session, Finance Minister SomdyDoungdy reported to the National Assembly that for the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the government has been able to collect some 5.4 trillion kips in revenues or about 75.8% of the targeted goal. Over half of the collected revenues - 3,492 billion kips - is from export-import tariffs.

Listen to Songrit's report for more details in Lao.