Thailand
Cambodia’s public debt at $9.81 billion, says Report
The Royal Government of Cambodia’s total public debt stock is at $9.81 billion consisting of 68 percent from Bilateral Developing Partners (DPs) and 32 percent from Multilateral DPs, according to Cambodia’s Public Debt Situation at the end of Q1 2022.
In Q1 2022, the RGC has signed a new concessional loan with DPs in the total amount of USD 317.24 million equivalents to SDR 228.21 million accounting for 14 percent of the ceiling permitted by law of which 52 percent are signed with Bilateral DPs and 48 percent are signed with Multilateral DPs, according to the report.
The purpose of these new loan commitments is to finance public investment projects in the priority sectors that support long-term sustainable economic growth and increase economic productivity. At the same time, there is no issuance of government securities.
The public debt situation report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance shows that China accounted for 40.72 percent of Cambodia’s foreign debt, while multilateral partners accounted for 34.33 percent. The rest is owed to other individual countries.
“That the current state of Cambodia’s public debt is assessed as manageable, with sustainability and low risk, despite the fact that the Cambodian economy has been affected by the spread of the Covid-19 and other external factors, said Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth in a statement.
The government has implemented rigorously and cautiously the strategic measures set out in the Public Debt Management Strategy 2019-2023, especially the five key principles aimed at further enhancing the efficiency of both public debt management and management of public investment, he said.
Hong Vannak, economic analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, told Khmer Times that the government has publicly declared that the country’s debt is nearly $10 billion most likely because the level of the debt is at about 23 % of GDP which still stays far from around 40-50% of GDP as the level of emergency.
“In this sense, the finance ministry is careful about the balance of its revenues and expenditures and the costs associated with repaying interest rates on international debt owed by the government,” he said, adding that the government has been resilient and is still able to borrow more from lenders such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and development partners.
“In particular, Cambodia has a low debt level compared to GDP. In addition, international financial institutions also see that Cambodia can afford to borrow more without falling into a debt trap if the government uses it according to demand, especially for infrastructure and energy sectors needed to support the Cambodian economy,” he said.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501094257/cambodias-public-debt-at-9-81-billion-says-report/