Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off.
However, in its assessment, which was released overnight, the US-based body warned the kingdom’s economy was vulnerable to the global slowdown, adding that its narrow export base made it susceptible to ‘significant downside risks.’
Cambodia’s economy is based on agriculture, garment manufacturing, tourism and construction, with the last three helping to buoy the economy last year. The garment industry was the largest foreign exchange earner in 2011 worth 3.75 billion dollars in exports.
‘If you look at the report there has been quite a bit of progress on several fronts and that progress needs to be continued,’ IMF country director Faisal Ahmed told DPA Tuesday, adding that one key area needing attention was the financial sector. The IMF assessment called again for a moratorium on banking licences – more than 30 banks now operate in Cambodia, making it ‘overbanked’ – until the central bank has sufficient capacity to regulate the sector.
Gasoline prices in Cambodia hit an all-time high on Friday, stoking fears of limited fuel reserves and increasing production costs at some of the Kingdom’s businesses.
Premium gasoline sold for $1.40 per litre last week, surpassing the $1.38-per-litre price during the global economic slump at the end of 2008, a PTT official said.
Importers and officials blamed global security issues and Cambodia’s reliance on imported oil…
Strong growth in garment, textile, and agricultural exports drove a 42.7 per cent increase in Cambodia’s total exports for 2011, official Ministry of Commerce data shows.
The Kingdom exported $4.98 billion in goods last year, compared with $3.49 billion the year before.
Market diversification and a relaxing of rules of origin in the Euro zone fuelled last year’s growth, insiders and experts say…
The number of criminal charges meted out to villagers embroiled in land disputes rose by more than 50 percent in 2011 compared to the previous year, according to figures released by the rights group Adhoc yesterday.
The rights group found that the courts charged 475 villagers embroiled in 220 land disputes last year, compared to 306 charges laid in 2010. The number of people that fled their homes for fear of arrest also rose to 335 people, an 88 percent rise compared to 2010. Out of all those who were arrested last year, 133 were charged, 56 were detained and 84 were released…
The World Bank yesterday predicted gross domestic product to grow 6.5 percent this year, though it said that economic conditions could sour if the economies of Cambodia’s largest export markets in the US and Europe deteriorate.
In an economic report outlining prospects for all of the world’s economies, the World Bank said that Cambodia’s strong performance in 2011 of 6 percent GDP growth is expected to continue in 2012 even as growth in countries such as China is expected to slow down…
Buoyed by strong demand from the economies of Europe and North America, the total amount of garment, shoe and textile exports that left Cambodia last year was on target to surpass the $4 billion mark, dwarfing 2010′s total of $2.88 billion, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said yesterday.
According to the most recent data released by the Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia exported $3.89 billion of garments, textiles and shoes in the first 11 months of 2011.
Cambodian exports to the European Union, which dropped tariffs on goods from Cambodia last year, increased by 62 percent to $1 billion between January and November, while exports to the US – Cambodia’s largest market for garment exports – increased by 14 percent to $1.89 billion. Shoe exports to the EU also surged, hitting $124.5 million, a rise of 41 percent.
Manufacturers and economists said that the data had exceeded expectations and that the large increase in exports was in part due to rising labor costs in countries such as China pushing manufacturers to set up factories in other countries, such as Cambodia…
Whether it is dancing pop stars or plays on national pride, dramatically increasing budgets for beer advertising took Cambodia’s TV sets and public spaces by storm in 2011.
Beer advertising surged 164 per cent year-on-year in 2011, according to data from Indochina Research Ltd, making it one of the fastest-growing areas in Cambodian advertising.
Beer companies spent more than US$5 million on advertising in Cambodia in 2011, $1 million more than ads for cars or food products – and insiders say the beer ad figure is set to continue to increase this year.
In 2011 there were also some of Cambodia’s biggest TV advertising campaigns, attempts from the increasing number of market contenders to brand their brews.
“Beer has definitely become an important part of [the advertising industry],” Mean Samol, Cambodia Brewery Ltd’s deputy marketing manager, said yesterday.
“Beer [advertising] is becoming more and more competitive right now.”…
The Kingdom’s 27 casinos are set to generate about US$20 million in tax revenue for the government in 2011, a 25 per cent year-on-year increase, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
At least one government official, however, said the lack of a regulatory regime for the casino industry prevented Cambodia collecting many times that amount.
That $20 million target was in line with estimates at the beginning of the year, May Vann, director of the ministry’s Department of Industry and Finance, said yesterday…
The Kingdom’s inflation rate fell month-on-month in November for the first time all year, dropping 0.7 per cent from October, according to National Institute of Statistics data.
However, year-on-year inflation in November increased 5.7 per cent, the NIS reported.
“We see that we got a bigger supply of fish and meat, and at the same time a decline in the price of gasoline,” NIS official Sim Ly said, explaining the incremental dip last month…
Pakistan and Cambodia yesterday discussed strengthening economic ties in areas such banking and transportation, a government official said.
Ambassador of Pakistan Fazal-ur-Rahman Kazi and Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An considered an agreement on the protection of trade and investment, Ek Tha, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said.
Pakistan’s ambassador said he hopes an agreement will be signed next year, although there is no set timeline, according to Ek Tha…
Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank have signed their latest loan agreement of US$15 million for the development of the Kingdom’s financial sector, according to ADB.
The money would be used for a number of development programs, including the improvement of regulatory regimes, creation of an inter-bank lending market and increased consumer access to credit, ADB said…
Sihanoukville Autonomous Port saw a 10 per cent year-on-year shipment increase in the first 11 months of the year, according to data provided by the Port’s general director.
The shipment of cargo across the port during the time period reached 2.2 million tons, a 9.94 per cent increase from 2 million tonnes the previous year. The number of TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) rose 6 per cent from 202,000 in 2010 to 214,000, this year…
Fifteen foreign investments worth $344 million were approved by the government’s investment board in October, most of which were in the garment industry, according to data obtained this week…
Damage to Cambodia’s rice crop from widespread flooding earlier this year will likely cause economic growth to fall below 6 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which yesterday offered the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) prediction so far…
In a statement, the IMF chose to only provide a fixed estimate on GDP growth, excluding the country’s flood-hit agricultural sector. Not accounting for the damage caused by the floods, the IMF said that economic growth would reach 7.5 percent this year, the highest rate in four years. The real figures, however, show how big of a blow flooding had on the economy this year and how well other sectors of the economy are performing in comparison.
Asked why the IMF had decided to only provide a GDP figure excluding production in agriculture, Olaf Unteroberdoerster, deputy division chief for the IMF’s Asia and Pacific department, said: “Under the current circumstances, with the floods and the fact that agricultural output is more volatile, we consider that a measure of non-agriculture GDP growth is a better barometer of the underlying strength of Cambodia’s economy.”…
Cambodia’s total foreign reserves jumped to US$3 billion in the first half of 2011, up from $2.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia.
The reserves help to bolster the Kingdom’s financial standing, which in turn draws investor interest and allows for greater bargaining leverage in debt negotiations, an NBC official said…
New policies in agriculture, real estate and finance led the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday to keep its outlook on Cambodia’s economic growth this year at an estimated 6.8 percent.
The announcement comes even as the World Bank and the government have reduced their expectations, projecting growth this year at just 6 percent due to flooding in October…
The Senate yesterday spent just 90 minutes ratifying the record $2.6 billion budget law for 2012, which will allow the government to borrow up to $1.1 billion from foreign lenders, according to a Senate statement…
Cash transfers to the poor and public works programs for the unemployed are spelled out in a new five-year plan the government launched yesterday in a bid to expand the country’s threadbare social welfare programs.
Though full of ambitious targets and budgets, the ‘National Social Protection Strategy for the Poor and Vulnerable 2011 to 2015′ is decidedly short on details about how to get there and, critically, where the money will come from to pay for it.
In its current state, the strategy appears to be more a list of what the government wants to do and when it wants to do it by. How to do all that, though, will come later…
Shipment through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by more than 28 per cent in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing a government target for 2011.
About 73,760 shipping containers passed through the port between January and November, data shows, up from 62,256 containers during 2010…
Exports from Cambodia increased 32.9 percent to $3.7 billion during the first ten months of this year compared to the same period in 2010, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce yesterday.
Milled rice exports saw the biggest increase with a 161.5 percent jump from 43,225 tons to 117,944 tons, with the EU being the largest consumer…
