The Cambodian economy is expected to expand 4.5% this year as exports to the U.S. surged but construction approvals and cement imports plunged, the World Bank said in its latest economic update.
Cambodia saw a near 60% increase in exports to the United States for the first five months of the year, led by clothing and footwear. Banteay Meanchey’s deputy governor is back at work after military police questioned him for several hours on Friday.
In the first eight months of the year, Cambodian rice exports are tracking 23 percent below the same period last year, though non-rice exports have more than doubled in that time.
Garments exports dropped 9 percent last year, the manufacturers association estimated this week, amid a brutal year for the industry in which the Labor Ministry says more than 70,000 jobs were lost.
The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday revised Cambodia’s expected economic contraction this year from 5.5 percent to 4 percent, noting growth in non-garment exports thanks in part to demand for work-from-home electronics.
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