One nearby factory makes jackets for the brand Helly Hansen.
They retail on the Australian online store for as much $950.
Sambath Sakphea is a 20-year-old machine sewer who commutes on a motorbike for a monthly wage of $US208 ($302).
He gets an additional $US2.50 a month from the government now to help pay for fuel.
But it is not enough, “and I’m running low on money”, he says.
Neighbouring Laos has recorded similarly devastating price hikes.
At one point last month, two out five petrol stations were closed, media reported.
Regular fuel in the capital, Vientiane, remains beyond $US2.50 a litre, almost double the prewar price.
Tadam, a restaurant owner on Vientiane’s outskirts, says she has never heard of Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu.
She does know a faraway war in the Middle East is tearing up the local economy.
She has a $US23,000 loan at 5 per cent interest for repairs to the family’s home and business following a massive storm on March 22.
The storm produced fist-sized hail, the biggest, wildest stuff anyone in Vientiane has ever seen.
The cash-worried, including her family, hired desperate, cheap general labourers or....
