Cambodia’s service sector will be hit hard by the global economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic, contracting 1.7 percent for the year, the Asian Development Bank said in its latest forecast.
Cambodia’s anti-Covid-19 committee said on Thursday that the government had raised $10 million from private donors as well as ministers pledging to donate their salaries.
In Takeo province — where no one has been confirmed infected with Covid-19 — and other parts of the country, authorities are preparing health institutions and raising public awareness about preventative health measures, while religious leaders share blessings to ward off evil, ghosts and the respiratory disease.
A widely circulated document purported to be a draft of the government’s state of emergency legislation would allow the government to restrict citizens’ movements, and punish them with up to 10 years in jail if they obstruct emergency measures and cause public disorder.
Cambodia’s garment industry group said this week that factory owners would not be able to pay 40 percent of suspended workers’ wages as recommended by the government, as they cut back work for tens of thousands of employees in the sector.
Cambodia’s GDP growth this year could drop to its lowest rate in more than a decade, the World Bank projects, with some economic experts warning that the country’s reliance on international markets could slow recovery.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said a new law on declaring a state of emergency is coming soon as the country’s confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus climbed to 107 on Monday.
The nation’s casino and rice industries are the latest sectors to face restrictions as part of the government’s response to Covid-19, leaving some casino workers worried about lost income and the rice sector largely unfazed.
The Health Ministry confirmed two more cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease late Thursday, and another recovered patient, bringing the nation’s total number of infections since January to 98.
Amid the global Covid-19 outbreak, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said the government was considering declaring a state of emergency, raising concerns among some about potential civil rights restrictions.
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