Lao kip establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Kaysone Phomvihane is pictured on the obverse of the 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, and 100,000 kip banknotes. The Bank of Laos governor announced on January 25, 2012 that the Bank of Laos would issue 100,000 Kip banknotes as a regular issue on February 1, 2012 (but dated 2011) to encourage Lao people to use the national currency instead of U.S. dollars and Thai baht. Lao kip The kip (; code: LAK; sign: ₭ or ₭N; ; officially: ເງີນກີບລາວ, lit. "currency Lao kip") is the currency of Laos since 1952. Historically, one kip
Currency substitution Currency substitution Currency substitution or dollarization is the use of a foreign currency in parallel to or instead of the domestic currency. Currency substitution can be full or partial. Most, if not all, full currency substitution has taken place after a major economic crisis, for example, Ecuador and El Salvador in Latin America and Zimbabwe in Africa. Some small economies, for whom it is impractical to maintain an independent currency, use those of their larger neighbours; for example Liechtenstein uses the Swiss Franc. Partial currency substitution occurs when residents of a country choose to hold a significant share of their