The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecasts 7 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for Cambodia in 2015 and 7.2 percent in 2016, according to the bank’s Asian Development Outlook Update report released on September 22.
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Cambodia's exported rice (Source: VNA)
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In its March report, the bank expects growth of 7.3 percent for 2015 and 7.5 percent for 2016.
Cambodia’s economy is expected to remain strong, thanks to the expansion of garment manufacturing, construction and services, particularly in tourism, finance and real estate, said ADB Senior Country Economist Jan Hansen.
He noted that tourism and exports slowed in the first half of the year while the agricultural sector was affected by prolonged rainfall.
In the first six months of the year, Cambodia’s garment and leather footwear exports climbed 11 percent year-on-year, tapering 4.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Export revenue in the first six months rose 14 percent compared to last year’s growth of 18.3 percent, spurred by fierce garment industry competition with other markets and the appreciation of the USD.
The report stated that growth of foreign tourist arrivals softened to 4.6 percent in the first half from 5.3 percent one year ago.
According to the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), investment projects landing in the country in the first half of the year registered 3.3 billion USD in total capital. Most of the projects were in infrastructure construction, industry, agriculture and tourism. China led the investors with 254 million USD, followed by Vietnam with 28 million USD and Japan with 25 million USD./.