The economy of the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic is rapidly growing, as the government began to decentralise control and encourage private enterprise in 1986.Currently, the economy grows at 8% a year, and the government is pursuing poverty reduction and education for all children as key goals. The country opened a stock exchange, the Lao Securities Exchange in 2011, and has become a rising regional player in its role as a hydroelectric power supplier to neighbors such as China, Vietnam and Thailand. Laos remains one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia, but may transition from being a low middle-income country to an upper-middle income one by 2020. A landlocked country, it has inadequate infrastructure and a largely unskilled work force. The country's per capital income in 2009 was estimated to be $2,700 on a purchasing power parity-basis.