VIENTIANE, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Lao workers in other countries will find it easier to send their earnings back home after an agreement has been made between the Lao Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and Laos' central bank, the Bank of the Lao P.D.R (BOL).
A Memorandum of Understanding on the transfer of remittances by Lao migrant workers was signed here last week, Lao Economic Daily reported on Monday.
The collaboration is an extension of an agreement reached a year earlier to set up an official channel for overseas Lao workers to send back their money.
At present, Laos' restrictions on cross-border money transfers, including on opening a bank account overseas, have forced Lao migrant workers, when sending money home, to use informal channels with unfavorable currency exchange rates.
To address the problem, the recent new arrangement will enable the migrant workers to use the Lao banking system to send back money. This will also make it easier for the government to monitor and regulate the transfer of funds and introduce appropriate management policies if necessary.
So far this year, 31,394 skilled workers have left Laos to work abroad, with around 30,200 people going to Thailand, according to a report released by the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare in April.
In 2022, 500,712 Lao nationals were working overseas, said the report.
According to a central bank report released in June 2022, Lao nationals working in other countries are sending an annual average of remittances at 412 million U.S. dollars back home, representing 2.3 percent of the country's gross domestic product. ■