Logo of Phnom Penh Post newspaper Phnom Penh Post - Economic development requires rule of law: ESCAP

Economic development requires rule of law: ESCAP

Content image - Phnom Penh Post
Garment factory workers produce items of apparel at a warehouse in Kandal province last year. Heng Chivoan

Economic development requires rule of law: ESCAP

Cambodia has enjoyed strong economic growth but needs to improve its governance and rule of law in order to promote greater development, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Escap) said in a report released yesterday.

The UN agency noted in its Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2017 that Cambodia experienced steady 7.2 percent growth in 2016, led by the growth of garment exports.

“Exports of readymade garments, accounting for about 80 per cent of total exports, continued to expand well as a result of privileges enabling countries such as Cambodia to gain market access in developed countries,” it said, adding that the sector employed around 600,000 people in the Kingdom.

Oliver Paddison, chief of the Countries with Special Needs section at Escap, said Cambodia needs to address its poor performance in terms of rule of law to increase its development growth. The survey specifically mentioned issues of land acquisitions and property rights.

“Essentially, you cannot develop if you do not improve governance, you cannot develop if you don’t improve transparency, if you don’t improve accountability,” he said.

He also noted that Cambodia’s transition from low-skill to high-skill industry is showing positive signs. However, he added that the Kingdom needed to improve education and skills training if it wanted to eventually move to higher value economic output.

“I also saw there is a large percentage of the population still working in the rural sector,” he said.

“The problem there is that labour surpluses can’t always be absorbed into the industrial sector because of this whole education story.”

MOST VIEWED

  • Wing Bank opens new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004

    Wing Bank celebrates first anniversary as commercial bank with launch of brand-new branch. One year since officially launching with a commercial banking licence, Wing Bank on March 14 launched a new branch in front of Orkide The Royal along Street 2004. The launch was presided over by

  • Girl from Stung Meanchey dump now college grad living in Australia

    After finishing her foundational studies at Trinity College and earning a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2022, Ron Sophy, a girl who once lived at the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and scavenged for things to sell, is now working at a private

  • Ministry using ChatGPT AI to ‘ease workload’; Khmer version planned

    The Digital Government Committee is planning to make a Khmer language version of popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology ChatGPT available to the public in the near future, following extensive testing. On March 9, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications revealed that it has been using the

  • Rare plant fetches high prices from Thai, Chinese

    Many types of plants found in Cambodia are used as traditional herbs to treat various diseases, such as giloy or guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) or aromatic/sand ginger (Kaempferia galangal) or rough cocklebur (Xanthium Strumartium). There is also a plant called coral, which is rarely grown

  • Cambodia returns 15M Covid jabs to China

    Prime Minister Hun Sen said Cambodia will return 15 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to China for donation to other countries. The vaccines in question were ordered but had not yet arrived in Cambodia. While presiding over the Ministry of Health’s annual meeting held on

  • Wat Phnom hornbills attract tourists, locals

    Thanks to the arrival of a friendly flock of great hornbills, Hour Rithy, a former aviculturist – or raiser of birds – in Kratie province turned Phnom Penh tuk tuk driver, has seen a partial return to his former profession. He has become something of a guide