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Cambodia: 39 investment projects approved in Q1
The Council for the Development of Cambodia approved 39 fixed asset investment projects worth $294 million in the first quarter of this year.
A report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia showed that the investment projects decreased by eight, while investment capital fell to $294 million in the January-March period of this year, as compared to an investment of $2.2 billion for same period in 2022.
The 39 investment projects created approximately 47,000 jobs for local people.
Of the projects, 38 are in the industrial sector while one caters to the tourism industry.
The investors from China bagged the first sport, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the total projects, while domestic investment stood second.
Lim Heng, vice-president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, attributed the investment registration to the potential investment under the new investment law, free trade agreements, mega-regional pact, and trade preferences.
“The new investment law, with free trade preferences – Cambodia-China FTA and Cambodia-Korea FTA, RCEP – are factors that attracted investment from China to Cambodia as part of production for exports to the US and other markets,” Heng told Khmer Times yesterday.
Cambodia’s economy returned on a strong, sustainable growth path but it continued to face some major structural problems, the ministry’s permanent secretary of state Vongsey Visoth said at a sector policy dialogue last week.
Investment in industrial sector reflected that Cambodia is now moving from light industry to heavy and high-end technology industry, Heng said.
Cambodia is also facing a more complex regional and global environment, he said.
“Cambodia is absolutely necessary to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to serve the goal of sustaining growth, creating jobs, increasing income and adding more value to the economy to support the development of the country and the building of the state to be stronger and able to stand for a long time in an environment that is difficult to predict in the future,” he said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday reiterated the importance of increasing the number of technicians and skilled laborers to attract new high-end technology investment projects to Cambodia.
As Cambodia is gaining access to electrical components, and vehicle assembly plants, vocational and technical training is important in building the capacity of students to be technicians and skilled laborers, he said in late March.
Cambodia’s manufacturing output hit $15.8 billion in 2022, a remarkable increase of 83 percent year on year, thanks to both domestic and international market demands after the Covid-19 pandemic waned worldwide, a report of the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology, and Innovation showed.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501271799/39-investment-projects-approved-in-q1/