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Cambodia: Gov’t needs a clear post-virus strategy
An economic observer, economist and researcher have said that the Cambodian government needs to provide an unambiguous direction on the road ahead with clear markers and an exit strategic plan for the outbreak of COVID-19 restrictions.
Only then can it give people and businesses a sense of hope, a timeline to make plans and a real belief that the situation is under control.
Hong Vannak, a business researcher at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the government has put many measures in place to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) they are not a mechanism to exit from the spread of COVID-19. They are just protecting and facilitating the situation.
“Because of COVID-19, the government has closed some economic activities that were a catalyst to bolstering the economy, as other countries did,” he said, adding it could be hard re-starting them.
“So far we have only [one] patient who contracted COVID-19 in the Kingdom and will recover soon, but the government has not opened up the service sector [apart from hotels, restaurants
and resorts], schools are still closed and some otherbusinesses are still closed,” he added.
Vannak added that the country should gradually start opening the service sector and push domestic tourism so people start spending money and economic activity starts improving.
“For the first step, we should get our local economies moving and release some restrictions on some businesses which are now banned,” he said. “The exit strategic plan from COVID-19 has been set for Cambodia. However, it won’t happen until the government orders schools to open and open all the banned businesses in the tourism sector so we will see a recovery,” he added, saying the current situation is just maintaining the status quo.
One of the immediate priorities is to proactively take steps and measures to prepare for the restarting of the economy, said the economist, who asked to be anonymous. He said for airlines to consider resuming flights to Cambodia and for businessmen, investors and tourists to visit the Kingdom again, they must be assured and confident that the COVID-19 situation here is indeed under control.
He added the public is unsure because there has not been an announcement of any exit strategy so far. He urged starting with so-called safe travel bubbles that countries started to negotiate bilaterally to allow the resumption of essential air travel to kickstart the injured economies.
“While our neighbours Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have developed their own clear economic vision for post-COVID-19 and are now re-positioning to thrive in the “New Normal”, where does Cambodia stand in the ‘Chart from Struggle to Survival to Recovery Thrust’?” the economic observers asked.
Mey Kalyan, senior adviser of the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), said the strategic post-COVID-19 plan is not an easy task for any country.
“For me, I think there is no silver bullet. It is difficult, but we have to consider the risks and list them,” Kalyan added.
Kalyan noted Cambodia has not been so much affected by COVID-19 compared with other countries in the region and so is relatively safer. However, it is connected with other more=-affected countries. Thus, Cambodia has to have a local strategy and confer with the rest of Asean and Asia.
“We have to identify which sectors are high priority and which sectors are important and we have to do them one by one and link to others to find any trigger points,” he added. “We should open our economy slowly and step-by-step. We have to open the main activities and important sectors for the economy, but if we find it risky, we can close them again,” he added.
Meas Soksensan, the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s (MEF) spokesman, said the government has facilitated flights in and out Cambodia and allowed foreign tourists to visit.
“We are opening step-by-step. However, all who come to Cambodia must be in quarantine for 14 days. No one knows how to end the virus. We have to learn with each other until there is a vaccine, so businessmen, investors, and tourists can live normally,” Soksensan added.
“We cannot say when the new normal will comes but we have to be careful and open step-by-step on with a view to health safety measures. We will open all the sectors but we have to be careful. We also want to open the tourism sector more. We allow domestic tourists to travel and continue contributing taxes. “We are carefully working on opening the freedom to travel while being careful with the virus. Everyone and every country must learn from each other.”
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/733062/govt-needs-a-clear-post-virus-strategy/