Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Technical Assistance Report on Government Finance Statistics Mission (October 4-29, 2021)

This paper presents Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s Technical Assistance report on government finance statistics (GFS) mission. There has been a progress on a gradual basis in the timeliness of GFS compilation and dissemination to the IMF due to an improvement in coordination between the Fiscal Policy and Law Department and data providers on the provision of source data, but these data are still not reconciled in a more regular and timelier basis. Monthly budget execution data which is used for GFS compilation, such as other allowances and subsidies in expenditure in particular, are aggregated and prepared according to source data from the data providers. The Annual budget for FY2022 including fiscal package including fiscal measures for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response was submitted to the National Assembly in Nov/Dec 2021. The report recommends to coordinate with relevant departments including the Budget Department in the reporting system and/or the Inter-ministerial Committee to collect data for COVID-19 related spending for tracing and monitoring the spending.