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‘Cambodia to achieve 6.6% GDP growth in 2023’
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Cambodia would grow by 6.6 percent in 2023, a message from Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday.
“The economy has recovered fast,” Mr Hun Sen said, adding, “thanks to all of the efforts proactively made by the government on its ownership through releasing measures to maintain the balance of the socio-economy.”
Cambodia achieved economic growth of an average 7 percent annually in the last decade of development in the country.
The government has also forecasted that Cambodia’s economy would grow 6.6 percent this year—the highest projected growth rates compared to the three major international bodies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to the report released by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).
However, Meas Soksensan, MEF’s spokesman, told Khmer Times yesterday that the two GDP Growth figures—6.6 percent (2023) and 5.6 percent (2022)—are both still projections taking into account various new development factors as there may be more revisions made by the government this year. “The global circumstances move very fast,” Soksesan pointed out.
He said the government has set more measures this year to boost Cambodia’s economic recovery and mitigate the effects or impacts of the ongoing external factors or shocks. “Government intervention and major reforms are still going on [and] risks and challenges still exist and the government has tried to do everything to mitigate those risks,” Soksesan said.
According to the government’s actual forecasting, Soksesan pointed out that it is unlikely that the current ongoing external factors or shocks such as geopolitical, economic and climate crises and the Russia-Ukraine war and the crisis in Taiwan have threatened Cambodia’s journey to leave the Least Developed Country (LDC) category hopefully in 2027.
During his keynote address at the opening of the 14th Cambodia Outlook Conference in early October last year, Prime Minister Hun Sen raised the question of whether Cambodia can achieve its goals of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and a high-income economy by 2050 or not, amid the economic uncertainties the country has been confronting the negative effects of the global economy.
Prime Minister Hun Sen further said Cambodia has been passing through a challenging phase mainly due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and economic sanctions imposed by the US and European Union. “So, it should be assessed beforehand to see whether or not the targets are achievable,” said Prime Minister Hun Sen.
MEF’s Permanent Secretary of State and Minister attached to Prime Minister Vongsey Vissoth stated in January this year during the opening session of the Macroeconomic Management and Budget Law 2023 at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra that Samdech Techo Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the re-projection of Cambodia’s GDP Growth at 5.6 percent from 6.6 percent for 2023.
“The ambition is high and difficult due to the complicated issues to come, but we have a philosophy saying difficulty does not make us afraid, but it is the base or reason why we need to work harder. This is our strength. So, we must not be afraid of difficulty, but we need to work well together… That’s why the macroeconomic and budget management will respond to all concerns and challenges that our country has been facing,” Vissoth said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501252331/cambodia-to-achieve-6-6-gdp-growth-in-2023/