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
Mark (currency) and could be transferred by endorsement, and were accepted as payment. They could also be redeemed. This currency proved to be very stable. Following German unification in 1871, the country adopted the German gold mark (officially known just as the "mark") as its currency in 1873. The name was taken from the mark banco. Initially, the coins and banknotes of the various predecessor currencies, such as the , the , and the guilder, continued to circulate, and were treated as fixed multiples of the new unit of account, similarly to the introduction period of the euro between 1999 and 2002.