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Cambodians very concerned about inflation, says study
A market research study of more than 500 Cambodians found that 71.35 percent of Cambodians are very concerned about inflation.
According to Standard Insights study, inflation has been on the rise since 2017 in Cambodia, due to soaring fuel prices and the depreciation of the riel.
In November 2022, Standard Insights surveyed more than 500 Cambodians and found that almost 95 percent of respondents are concerned about inflation.
Specifically, more Cambodians are concerned about resolving poverty issues (29.41 percent), inclusive security & justice (24.86 percent), as well as health issues (22.96 percent).
In the same study, 43.64 percent of Cambodians are anticipating spending less money on food and other household items, and 32.07 percent of them are planning to decrease their spending on housing, due to rising concerns caused by inflation.
The same goes for all age groups and genders when it comes to the rise of prices and their impact. A tighter budget would be implemented by families to purchase less amount of food and other household items, as well as housing.
To keep up with inflation, many people have begun to look toward sustainability as an effective and economical solution. Sustainability includes preserving energy by switching off lights and electronics when not in use.
In the study, 56.26 percent of Cambodians avoided food wastage to promote sustainability, besides other popular activities like walking, biking, or using public transit (32.83 percent), and buying local items (32.64 percent).
The rise in inflation has caused prices to increase across all sectors, including housing, healthcare, and transportation services. In addition, income inequality is higher than the regional average due to poor economic conditions leading to a widening gap between rich and poor households. As a result, poorer families are more affected by rising living costs as they have less money to spend on essential items such as food or medical supplies, the study pointed out.
“The government has taken steps to alleviate some of these financial pressures through tax breaks and minimum wage increases, but more needs to be done if Cambodia is going to tackle its growing inflation problem,” Standard Insights noted.
According to the study, although riel is the main currency in the country, over half of the surveyed respondents (56.17 percent) also frequently use the dollar.
It said the dollarization of currency has resulted in excessive reliance on the dollar, resulting in riel’s inability to operate as a reliable store of value, worsening the country’s already high rate of inflation exponentially.
Prices for food in the country have been increasing steadily over the past few years.
“A combination of factors is responsible, including increased demand from tourists, poor management of water resources, and agricultural production constraints caused by climate change,” it said.
The rising fuel cost in the country is another major factor behind Cambodia’s inflation. Since most goods and services depend on transportation costs for their delivery, these costs have been driven up as fuel prices have risen. The increase in oil and gas prices is largely due to global trends, such as increased demand for oil and gas worldwide, coupled with geopolitical tensions resulting in artificial supply constraints.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501219855/cambodians-very-concerned-about-inflation-says-study/