A view of Cambodia's Phnom Penh capital city (Source: VOD Archive) Hanoi (VNA) – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Senrecently predicted that the country’s economy may contract 1.9 percent thisyear due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a circular on budget planning for 2021-2023,he said Cambodia has recorded a strong fall in demand from its tradingpartners.
Its growth heavily relies on garment andfootwear exports, tourism, construction and real estate, and agriculture.However, garment and footwear exports and tourism have been hit the hardest bythe coronavirus outbreak.
Yet, the PM is still optimistic that Cambodia’seconomy will bounce back to 3.5 percent in 2021 thanks to the gradual recoveryof global economy and external demand.
He forecast inflation at a manageable level of2.8 percent this year and slightly up to 3.1 percent next year due to aprojected rise in international oil prices.
The World Bank said in its latest report lateMay that the Cambodian economy is likely to shrink between 1 percent and 2.9percent this year, which will be the slowest pace since 1994.
Meanwhile, credit rating agency Moody’s lastmonth predicted that the Southeast Asian economy may expand by about 0.3percent in 2020 and 6 percent next year./.
VNA
