Cambodia enjoys double digit economic growth for the last 2 years

Cambodia's Leader: Foreign Reserves Up
Monday February 26, 11:18 pm ET
Cambodia's Leader Says Foreign Reserves Top US$1 Billion


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- Cambodia's foreign currency reserves have
climbed to more than US$1 billion (euro760 million) due to constant
economic growth over the last decade, Prime Minister Hun Sen said
Tuesday.

The reserves of US$1.097 billion (euro834 million) at the end of 2006
have increased 10-fold from US$100 million (euro76 million) in 1994,
when the country was still caught up in a civil war.

The country's annual per capita income also rose to US$500 (euro380)
last year, up from US$247 (euro188) in 1994, Hun Sen said Tuesday.

"All of the above factors reflect the success of reforms (the
government) has been strictly implementing," Hun Sen said.

Cambodia remains one of the world's poorest countries, where 35
percent of its 14 million people live below a national poverty line of
50 U.S. cents (40 euro cents) a day.

And Cambodia's neighbors have far greater foreign exchange reserves:
China has more than US$1 trillion and Thailand has more than US$67
billion.

Since the war ended with the collapse of the Khmer Rouge movement in
1999, the economy, fueled largely by the garment industry, has grown
at an average 9.5 percent annually, according to the government.

Last year's growth was 10.4 percent, lower than the 13.5 percent in
2005 but still one of the highest rates in Asia.

Nonetheless, the country still relies on about US$500 million (euro380
million) of annual foreign aid for development.

While acknowledging Cambodia's economic growth, donors have often
deplored the growing gap between the rich and poor, and lashed out at
the government for failing to enact a long-delayed law for combatting
rampant corruption.

Hun Sen said Tuesday the fight against corruption and reforming the
judiciary are the government's "key priority."

But he gave no indication when a draft of the anti-corruption law
would be forwarded to lawmakers, saying only that it was "at the final
stage of careful consideration" by the government.

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