Labourers move on a street in Phnom Penh capital of Cambodia on May 14 (Photo: AFP/VNA) Phnom Penh (VNA) – The European Union (EU), its member states and their financial institutions and agencies are mobilising 443 million EUR (503 million USD) in grants and loans to work with Cambodia in fighting COVID-19 and mitigating its socio-economic impacts.
The Phnom Penh Post cited the EU’s press release as announcing that the bloc will work with Cambodia to support economic recovery and job creation. That includes strengthening key areas of the economy, public investment for economic development, energy efficiency and green recovery.
The announcement came as Minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Vong Soth recently urged ASEAN ministers to immediately implement social protection programmes to help the poor and vulnerable in the ASEAN region amid the pandemic.
He said the Cambodian Government is committed to implementing existing social protection programmes in June like providing cash to poor families to ease the pressure on the vulnerable and poor during the pandemic.
He continued that the Government is paying more attention to children under the age of 15, people with disabilities, the elderly, and AIDS patients.
Earlier this month, the Cambodian Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training said about 110,000 workers of 344 factories and firms in the country have received unemployment benefits from an aid package of 2.4 million USD.
The ravaging COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to hundreds of thousands of workers in the garment and service sectors, especially tourism and hospitality, which use 620,000 workhands.
According to the World Bank, the coronavirus outbreak is putting at least 1.76 million jobs in Cambodia at risk, driving the country’s unemployment rate to nearly 20 percent./.
VNA
