As Cambodia touted recovering trade and GDP growth, thousands took to the streets this year over repression at work or struggles in the market.
The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office said Wednesday that Cambodia’s wild swings in gold imports and exports over the past three years could be linked to speculative investments and stricter border controls capturing more accurate data.
International credit rating firm Moody’s downgraded Cambodia’s financial outlook from stable to negative over a “severe widening” in the gap between imports and exports and a lack of transparency.
Labeled a “great achievement” for Cambodia’s post-pandemic recovery, the country’s biggest goldmine also exemplifies some of the challenges facing indigenous communities seeking to protect traditions. “It’s something very dangerous to lose culture, lifestyle and traditional practices,” one Bunong lawyer said.
Cambodia’s economic growth this year is expected at 1.9 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 4 percent, the Asian Development Bank said on Wednesday, as services continued to contract amid Covid-19 disruptions.
Gold exports through “private transactions” jumped some 676 percent, from $388 million to $3 billion last year, with some attributing the surge to investors selling their holdings due to a price rise, and others suggesting a potential link to gold smuggling to Vietnam.
Indigenous community representatives told a forum on extractive industries on Friday that they were concerned about the effects mining projects in their areas could have on their health and livelihoods, and asked that they be better informed by companies and the government.
Cambodia has 30 tons of gold stashed in Switzerland, London and Phnom Penh; $15 billion in foreign reserves; and $4 billion more cash in hand — so it doesn’t need to be beholden to foreign aid, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Wednesday.
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