Cambodia's economy to recover in 2024 at 6.6%

Phnom Penh: The Cambodian economy in 2024 is projected to recover well and is expected to achieve growth of around 6.6%, making the current gross domestic product (GDP) is around 142. 957 billion riels, equivalent to about 35.168 million US dollars, while per capita GDP is expected to increase to 2071 US dollars, compared to 1,917 US dollars in 2023.

This statement was made by Dr. Phan Phalla, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance at the Public Forum on Macroeconomic Management and Budget Law 2024 on February 19, 2024.

Dr. Phan Phalla stated that while the global economy in Cambodia's trading partners is better, while some domestic sectors have also improved, such as the non-garment sector​ has been leading the ongoing export trends growth.

Tourism will increase over 2023, along with the recovery of the garment sector, in fact, in the garment sector in early 2024, exports were higher than exports in the same period in 2023.

"Stakeholders, both buyers and buyers, as well as factories, said that in 2024, there is a lot of hope, which shows a positive recovery in the production of non-garment products and the ​Agriculture sector​ has been going well. In addition to the above activities, there are other good factors for Cambodia, including foreign direct investment (FDI), from 2021 to 2023 has increased steadily such as the number of Chinese investors has increased significantly due to the close relations between Cambodia and China.

At the same time, Cambodia continues to face a number of internal structural problems, especially limited competition and slow pace of economic diversification, as well as continued to rely heavily on external demand. The riel exchange rate is still around 4,065 riel per US dollar in 2024. The current account deficit is projected to narrow slightly to 9.6% of GDP due to expectations of continued growth in exports and tourism revenue. Total international reserves are expected to reach 21.28 billion US dollars and the import guarantee is 6.6 months.

Dr. Phan Phalla added that adherence to the defined macroeconomic framework, in particular, supports the effective implementation of key policy measures set out to achieve the goal of economic growth within 6 6%, which is an indispensable basis to create more new jobs for the people, especially for the youth, and provide more opportunities for people to earn higher incomes, as well as to increase the national budget revenue.