Laos must appease China or embrace austerity to reduce staggering debt

The communist apparatchiks who run Laos must appease China if they are to stop their national debt crisis from worsening and avoid an outright default. The IMF’s latest report on Laos, released last month, was particularly damning about the country’s future. Real GDP growth likely peaked this year, at around 4.1 percent, and will slide from 3.5 percent next year down to 2.5 percent by 2029.In