The Bank of Lao (BOL) is the central bank of the country.

The Government adopted October 7th 1968 as the founding day of the banking sector, as this was the date of the first printing of the liberated Laotian Kip currency under the leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. The currency was printed in a cave in Viengxai district, Hauphanh province, which was a revolutionary base at the time.

In 1975 after the establishment of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Bank of Lao merged with the former Lao National Bank to become the central bank for the new country.