Cambodia expects growth to stabilise at around 7 pct this year

Vongsey Vissoth, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. 

Published: 06-May-15

PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- Cambodia expects economic growth rate to remain stable at around 7 percent this year, Ministry of Economy and Finance Secretary of State Vongsey Vissoth said Tuesday.

In a statement to the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, he pointed to increased productivity and yields in agriculture and continued growth in the tourism, construction, garment and light manufacturing sectors.

"Macroeconomic stability continues to be maintained with inflation being at 3.5 percent this year due to sustained lower oil prices, reduced food prices and stable dollar/riel exchange rate," the secretary of state said.

"Cambodia has also done well socio-economically with key indicators showing significant improvements, such as GDP per capita, increasing from USD 417 in 2004 to USD 1,123 in 2014," he said. At the same time, the poverty rate fell from 53 percent in 2004 to 18 percent in 2012. And the Gini Coefficient, measuring inequality, dropped from 32 in 2008 to 28 in 2012.

"Going forward, the annual growth is expected to continue at around 7 percent in the medium term," he said.

"Achieving this strong growth, our emphasis is on making growth more inclusive, resilient and sustainable through cohesive and coordinated development strategies and plans that focus on economic diversification, increased competitiveness and enhanced productivity as well as strategic integration with the region.

'BOLD INTERVENTIONS' FORESHADOWED FOR KEY SECTORS

"We will be making bold interventions in the development of key sectors including agriculture and industry.

"In light of this, we believe that our newly adopted Industrial Development Policy (IDP) will be instrumental to creating space and opportunities for long term sustainable and inclusive growth," Vongsey Vissoth said.