A farmer uses a combine to harvest rice in Kandal province's Kandal Stung district t h.is month, Pl!

!lIlI NA " , VI L = lu ,,1, 1k j.1 I L l;: lll(

Kingdo efies global crisis
this year to almost $5 billion, said the downt urn was having "I believe this inflow will
compared with the corres little impact on Cambodia's continue, because the labour
ponding period last year. economy. cost in neighbouring countri es
The value of garments an d "Despite [be global slow is going up." Suzuki cautioned,
texliles, which make up ahout down , Camhodia's economic however, that the powerSeclo\
HO per cent of Cambodia's ex performance has held up well, was still a weak point.
ports, increased by nine per driven by resilient exports, This year ma rkt'!! ;lllPIIIl'I
cent to $3.826 billion, but the robust tourism and construc Illilesltmc ill Cill lI!Jqdl;I'S illl
value of agricultural products tion, and with growing si gns provill g l'I'OIHll ll il' forlllnl'S
- which account for about 10 of economic diversiti cal ion, " wilh Ihe (ljll'lIillg (If capital
pef cent of exports - fell lO Ahmed said. lilarkl'ls ill mid -April and life
per cent to $312 million. "We wel nJllll' IIII' inlTI';tSI' Illsurance arriving in March,
Foreign tourist arrivals in reserve requirement. an The Kingdom's chairman
climbed nearly 24 per cent illl pO)'U1nl fl na slep towards ship of ASEAN was also an
during t he period 10 al mos t sa feguarding fi naucial stabil important event for the coun
2.86 m ill ion, <In:ording III ity, and the Nati onal Bank of try in demonstrating to the
Mi nistry of Tnurism stat istics. Cambodia's overall lmprove world that it was Improving.
Data 'from th e Mi nistry of ment in banking supervision. "Cambodia's second chair
Land Manageme nl and Ur "As in any rapi dl y evolving manship of ASEAN provided
ban Planni ng shows the valu fi nancial system in a devel a timely opportwl ity to show
of approved lnvest ment in oping country, managing fin case t he economic
the construction sector rose ancial deepening, including achieved over the past del'
by 73.3 per cenl to $1.923 bill moderating credit growth and adl:!. ind uding the country's
ion in l,49
1
1projects. the continued strengthening strong growth performann '
Ministry of Commerce of financial-sector supervi and commendable rcd url il lil
spokesman Kong Putheara sion, will remaill impo rta nt. " in poverty," Ahmed
reaffirmed that exports had Hiroshi Suzuki , an econo The 1MF proj ects Canllill
not been affected by the slow mist at the Bus iness /{esearcb dia's growth in 20 13 will " il K"
down in the global economy. Tnstitute for Camb odia, sa id up to 6.7 per cent. willi Ir ill' ll '
"I don't see any slowdown ill the Kingdom was still attract ion averaging four IWIII'I II ,
exports so far. We still have two ive to foreign investors. I'aisal suggested lit: 11 r H'1 11
main export markets, the US "We're seeing a healthy ing more fi scal 111.1111
and the EU, " PUlheara said. trend of foreign direct invest taining the ilnplIIll'IIH III III
"At the same time, we are ment, especially by Japanese monetary puli l'V a lit! 1111;\11
also looking to some Asian manufacturers," Suzuki said. cial SUPCl'Vi5ion. 1111d Jl l lllllllt
markets, because we need to "This is a real driver of ing broad j,a"l'd, lilt
diversify our markets." growth, and it will have very growth would Iw 111I]1l1rlal1t
1MI' country director in positive effects on Cambod policy gOals fil l II II' 1',IIVI'rn
Cambodia Fai sal Ahmed als ian exports and employment. ment in llw CCl JlliIljt \T! ';lr,
t
quality of farmers ' paddy,
such as the establis hment
of dry ovens or e nabling
traders to gather al one
place where the ki ddy
pri ce would b(' dis pLJ ycd
Vietnamese fertiliser
company inaugurated
VIeTNAM 1" I' .IIIVt" ,l r d about
;(1' 111111 11.11 I" ' .0'\ lip a
1"11;\1,,, '1 , '1l11 jlJlly III
( 11 11 11,., 11 <1 . The Vietnamese
111 111, l ive Star Internati onal,
was inaugurated in Kandal
province this wee k and will
have an annual capi'lcity Df
350,000 tonnes Ouri nq til
inauguration, Prlmll Mlnr ster
Hun Sen sai d III <1 1, 1111d \Ni'l nt
to curb ImrOI I' pi I II! ' I lilt II
fertili ser' " ' ''JI'I I II' ' HI'j I1
Camboui.1 1101.1 I""III' ,,,ti c
plilnl, HIli ' III, " "Ii !l ,e
pia III I" I " "I" , ( Il eap
[''' fllll' ''' 1 Iii " I "" f to
Clll lIP' P', 1III ltl market .
Cambodia, Thailand
launch single visa
I and Thai t:md
h, 1111 ' 1,lUnched a SlIlqlr \<1'\,] to
LI' li lt l Ie a floWin lP1i1 i' .I ' , lI lO
' IIo Jhlc r:asier trawl I1 ll wl.: "rJ
II IL two count ries, /I ll N" I /lill
I"ported. TOUri st, . II
ni1 ti ons wil l be .1111< t., , 1111 r
both Will! 11 11 ,lIlqle
visa. Cambodl.J1 1li'I II I.t 1T
minister Thol ll! VI "HI. II
the single VI' , j ;, ' I I" " II I'!
developmf'I,1 I, q I Cl III 1<Jl ml
l oil I" " It, I did

I{cview
May Kunmakara
C
AMBODlA'S econ
omic performance
this year has been
heartening despite
the global economic slow
down, especially the chaos
caused in Europe by the
sovereign- d ebt crisis and the
sluggish recovery of the US
economy,
[n October, the Internation
al MonelalY Fund revised its
world growtb projecti ons to
3.3 per cent and 3.6 pel cent
in 201 2 and 2013 respect ivel y.
lower than the its estimates
in July.
Growth projections for th e
US were decreased to 3.3 per
cent and 3.6 per cent in 2012
and 2013 respectively.
European grmvth was revised
to 0.1 and 0.8 per cent in 2012
and 2013 respectively. China's
growth projecti.ons also de
clined, to 7.8 per cent this year
and 8.2 per cent in 201 3.
In September. the IMF
raised its projection for Cam
bodia's grm'l.1:h to 6.5 per cent
In 2012 from an earlier projec.
lion of 6.3 per cent. Inflation,
after decelerating through
mid-year, is projected to aver
age about 3.5 per cent in 2012
and four per cent in 201 3.
The Asian Development
Bank lowered its growth esti
mate to 6.4 per cent.
The Cambodian govern
ment recently revised its own
growth projection to seven
per cent this year from 6.5 per
cent in September.
The inflation rate is running
below five per cent, according
to the Ministry of Economy
and Finance,
"Cambodi a's econolll Y is
proving its strength with a
growth projection of seven
per cent annuall y, although
the globa l economic outlook
at the end of 2012 and into
2013 ""ill continue to face
high risk because of Europe's
debt crisis and the slow re
covelY of the US economy," a
minist ry press release said.
The release also highUghted
the improvement in the King
dom's four main pillars of
growth: agriculture; industry
(garments and textiles); con
struction and real estate; and
tourism.
Data from the Ministry of
Commerce shows total ex
ports rose almost 11 per cent
over the firs t to m o nl'hs of
UOlleJ
6IWW! UO asuas
llO!lI!d,O