Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)
Phnom Penh (VNA) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected thatCambodia will be the third-fastest growing economy in ASEAN next year and fastestgrowing economy in the region by 2025.
In the IMF’srecently-released World Economic Outlook, Cambodia’s economy is forecast toshrink 2.8 percent this year, much higher than the 1.5 percent contractionforecast for Indonesia.
Amid theCOVID-19 pandemic, deeper contractions of 8.3 percent are forecast for thePhilippines, 7.1 percent for Thailand and 6.0 percent for both Malaysia andSingapore.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is forecast to be the fastest-growing ASEAN economythis year with GDP expanding by 2.0 percent, followed by Vietnam with growth of1.6 percent.
The IMF’s mid-term projections for 2025 show Cambodia outpacing itspeers with growth forecast at 6.9 percent, making the country the region’sfastest growing economy.
Slower growth is forecast for Vietnam (6.6 percent), Myanmar and thePhilippines (6.5 percent), Laos (6.1 percent), Indonesia (5.1 percent),Malaysia, (5.0 percent), Thailand (3.7 percent), Singapore (2.5 percent) andBrunei (1.8 percent).
In her forward to the outlook, IMF Economic Counsellor and Director ofResearch Gita Gopinath said the latest forecasts for 2020 were “somewhat lesssevere though still deep” compared with IMF forecasts in June./.
