Economy Undergoing a Rebound: ADB

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The Asian Development Bank said Tuesday it expects an economic rebound for Cambodia in 2010, with growth moving from 4.5 percent this year to 6 percent in 2011.

Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Photo: AP
Cambodian garment workers sew clothes in a factory in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“And if there are further improvements in irrigation, seed and fertilizer use, one could hope that agricultural production could be a bit higher this year than last year. So the prospects of the year look good.”

The Asian Development Bank said Tuesday it expects an economic rebound for Cambodia in 2010, with growth moving from 4.5 percent this year to 6 percent in 2011.

The recovery was driven by the country’s main economic pillars: agriculture, construction, garments and tourism, ADB officials said Tuesday, as they released the bank’s economic outlook for the year.

“Garments, tourism and construction have all apparently turned the corner in the first quarter of this year,” Eric Sidgwick, a senior economist at the ADB, told reporters. “And if there are further improvements in irrigation, seed and fertilizer use, one could hope that agricultural production could be a bit higher this year than last year. So the prospects of the year look good.”

Garments were boosted by an increase in US retail market demand in the first quarter of the year, while tourist arrivals for the same period increased, especially with visitors from China and South Korea. The recoveries of the economies in Asia are expected to bolster Cambodia’s construction sector, as more investors return after the global downturn.

Ros Silva, deputy director general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said Tuesday the government had forecast the same figures for growth this year and next. The growth follows a recession in 2009, when the economy shrank 2 percent.

But Sidgwick said Tuesday international competition will increase in the next year, requiring the government to focus on the promotion of the private sector, integrated regional and global markets and effective economic policy.