CAMBODIA

 

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Cambodia's main industries are garments, tourism, and construction.  Garments dominate Cambodia’s exports and has actually expanded following the expiration of the Multifiber Arrangement in 2005. . Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased 12-fold since 2004.

 

Location

Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand, between Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos (a land of paddies and forests dominated by the Mekong River and Tonle Sap)

Climate

Tropical; rainy, monsoon season (May to November); dry season (December to April); little seasonal temperature variation

Natural Resources

Oil and gas, timber, gemstones, iron ore, manganese, phosphates, hydropower potential

Population

14,494,293 (July 2009 est.)

Ethnic Groups

Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4%

Religions

Buddhist 96.4%, Muslim 2.1%, other 1.3%, unspecified 0.2%

Languages

Khmer (official) 95%, French, English

National Holidays

9 November

Currency

Riel (KHR)

Fiscal Year

January to December

 
Economy

Agriculture products: Rice, rubber, corn, vegetables, cashews, tapioca, silk

Industries: Tourism, garments, construction, rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber, cement, gem mining, textiles

 

From 2004-2007, the Cambodian economy expanded by more than 10% per year, with the garment sector and the tourism industry driving the growth, and inflation remaining relatively low.  But growth fell back to 5.5 percent in 2008 and now a contraction is likely because the global crisis has hurt garment exports, which brought in $2.78 billion in 2008 as the main currency earner, and caused the number of tourists to drop. Cambodia's economy is expected to contract by 1 percent in 2009, because of the global economic slump, a World Bank report said.  An economist forecast FDI at just $390 million in 2009, after $790 million last year.

 

Due to the unfavourable climate resulting from the financial crisis and global economic downturn, the Royal Government has taken systematic and well-sequenced measures in order to ensure macro-economic stability and strong financial sector to stimulate growth through fiscal measures, trade facilitation and investment.   Some of these measures are given below:

  • To diversify the markets for garments and other manufactured goods to East Asia, the Middle East and Africa etc;

  • To improve tourism infrastructure/development of more tourism destinations;

  • Diversify the agricultural sector to attract more quality investments in agri-business, improve agricultural trade linkages, agricultural diversification and agro-processing;

  • To further invest in infrastructure development, particularly energy generation to reduce energy costs to the private sector and to the community.