The National Bank of Cambodia says the Kingdom’s real economic growth is estimated to recover by 4 per cent in 2021, according to NBC’s Macroeconomic and Banking Sector Update 2020 report.
The prediction for the positive economic growth rate is based on effective COVID-19 vaccines available to prevent the COVID-19 in the first half of the year. Last year, government forecasted that the country’s economy contracted by 1.9 percent.
NBC’s forecast is similar to international financial institutions which had predicted the country’s economic growth will be 4 per cent to 6.8 per cent respectively in 2021.
“The prediction will depend solely on the effectiveness of the vaccines, the speed of recovery of Cambodia’s economic partners and the strengthening of the domestic economic foundation,” NBC said.
NBC added that the continued strengthening of domestic economic activities will support and mitigate the impact on Cambodia’s economy due to the slowdown in external exports. The implementation of the government policy to promote the development of small and medium enterprises, to boost the innovation, and the use of technology in all the sectors is significant to strengthen the local-based growth activities.
The central bank said that agriculture will be the main sector and high potential which could absorb some parts of the crises such as unemployment and support the livelihood of the poor. Moreover, speeding up the diversification of the economy and the implementation of the industrial sector would help the country’s economy recover fast from the current crises.
“The revenue from oil production would also provide an additional source of revenue for the national budget to develop in the prioritised sector,” the Central Bank said.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
