ADB lowers economic growth forecast for Cambodia

In Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on October 22 lowered Cambodia's economic growth forecast to 1.9 percent this year, down from its April projection of 4 percent, due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

But the ADB predicted the nation’s growth is likely to rebound to 5.5 percent in 2022.

The protracted pandemic has hurt services and domestic demand, ADB Country Director for Cambodia Sunniya Durrani-Jamal said in a press release.

Lockdowns and temporary factory closures hit production in the garments, travel goods, and footwear sector earlier this year, she added.

Cambodia is mainly driven by agriculture, tourism, garment exports, and real estate and construction. The report said the country’s agriculture sector is expected to grow by 1.5 percent and added that local COVID-19 outbreaks have disrupted agricultural supply chains, but the overall impact was limited.

Domestic demand for food, accommodation, transportation, and other in-person services has been severely limited by the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, the report said, adding that restrictions on international travel remain, and international visitor arrivals were down by 91.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021.

According to the report, the Cambodian government has taken steps to mitigate the pandemic's economic and social impacts, and those measures included free COVID-19 vaccines and treatment, cash transfers to poor households, economic stimulus, and loan restructuring programmes./.

VNA