Cambodia’s economic growth will ease slightly in the coming years, the World Bank has forecast.
The Bank said that the Cambodian economy would slow to a growth rate of 6.9 percent this year, compared with 7 percent in 2016, and would see a further decline to 6.8 percent in 2019.
The figures compare with a projected global average growth rate of just 2.3 percent.
The Bank, in a report titled “Global Economic Prospects: Weak Investment in Uncertain Times” and released on Wednesday, said the economy remained strong despite the slight downturn, boosted by strong growth in the garment, real estate and construction sectors.
“Stagnant global trade, subdued investment, and heightened policy uncertainty marked another difficult year for the world economy,” the report says.
The Bank said Cambodia needed to improve revenue mobilization, regulatory oversights and supervision for the non-banking financial sector.
It suggested structural reforms be prioritized due to Cambodia’s consistently low ranking in annual corruption indexes and other governance indicators.
Chap Sotharith, a senior researcher at the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said he was still optimistic about Cambodia’s economic prospects.
“When we are able to maintain a stable growth rate of 6.9 percent, I don’t think we need to worry about anything,” he said.
However, he added that the government should improve transport infrastructure to maintain these levels of growth.
