Cambodia's economy to grow by 6.7% this year

Cambodia's economy is expected to grow by 6.7 percent in 2013 thanks to anticipating increases in agriculture, foreign direct investment (FDI) and tourism, the World Bank said in its latest outlook Wednesday. "The growth is based on achieving the dividends from focus on higher rice production, inflows of FDI into the growing garment industry and a growing tourism industry,"the bank's Global Economic Prospects said, forecasting that the country's growth will be up to 7 percent in 2014. It foresaw that Cambodia's exports would grow at a slower pace this year due to weak external demand, especially in Europe and the United States. The country's exports to the United States valued at 2.49 billion U.S. dollars in the first eleven months of 2012, down 1 percent year-on-year, the report of the U.S. Department of Commerce said last Sunday. Last week, the International Monetary Fund also predicted that Cambodia is expected to register an economic growth rate of 6.7 percent in 2013, and warned that a fragile global economic outlook, rapid credit growth and potentially extreme weather conditions would continue to pose significant risks to the economy. The two institutions' forecasts remain lower than the government's prediction of 7 percent growth this year, envisaging the rises in garment exports, tourism, agriculture and construction. "Through Cambodian government's deep reforms, Cambodia's economic growth has rapidly recovered from the global economic crisis and it has maintained annual growth of 7 percent last year and the same rate is expected this year," Ou Proum Virak, deputy director of the Commerce Ministry's Trade Promotion Department, said Monday.