Forty Thousand civil servants to get paid through ATMs

(KPL) At least 40, 000 Lao government officials in Vientiane Capital will be using ATM cards to get their salaries in 2008 and later such a scheme would be extended to the other provinces.
The ATM usage is a new form of salary payment to Lao government officials, which is not only an efficient form of payment but would do away with the normal documentary process.
The Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao (Lao Foreign Commerce Bank) has been given the right by the Ministry of Finance to try out and run such a system on a nation-wide scale. It was first introduced to the civil servants of the Ministry of Finance and later to the other ministries, said an official of the bank.
Mr Somchanh of the BCEL said that the bank would dispense 30,000 salary cards to the civil servants in Vientiane Capital if the trial run shows that it is an effective system. He also said that this method would enable civil servants to get their salaries in time as it reduces the normal documentary process.
The Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao said that since 1975, Lao government officials faced the problem of late salary payment and this problem was acute in the provinces. Mr Somchanh added that the card system would save time, more secure and speed up the circulation of money.