The Lao PDR has issued lunar series coinage with some regularity since the 1990s, typically targeting the collector export market rather than domestic circulation — virtually none of these pieces ever passed through Lao hands as currency. The 2020 Year of the Rat holds mild calendrical significance as the first year of a new 60-year sexagenary cycle, a conjunction of the rat sign with the yang metal element that recurs only once every six decades.
The Lao PDR has issued lunar series coinage with some regularity since the 1990s, typically targeting the collector export market rather than domestic circulation — virtually none of these pieces ever passed through Lao hands as currency. The 2020 Year of the Rat holds mild calendrical significance as the first year of a new 60-year sexagenary cycle, a conjunction of the rat sign with the yang metal element that recurs only once every six decades.