Laos rejects IMF view on currency

VIENTIANE: Laos' currency is not over-valued, a trade ministry official said on Saturday, rejecting an IMF assessment that the kip was too strong for a country with a large current account deficit.

The Asian Development Bank expects the external deficit to widen to 20 percent of GDP in 2017 from 17 percent in 2016, a level considered dangerous for economic stability.

The International Monetary Fund said in its last country report, in 2015, that balance of payments trends in Laos suggested the currency was 10-20 percent over-valued.

Laohoua Cheoching, head of trade policy at the ministry of industry and commerce, told Reuters there were pros and cons to both weak and strong currencies.

"The Lao currency should stay stable. If you just ... make the kip weaker - what is the benefit of it?" he said in a rare interview to western media, on the sidelines of an ASEAN economy ministers meeting in Vientiane, which holds the presidency of the 10-country group this year.