Minister of Economy and Finance puts Cambodia’s 2023 GDP forecast at 5.6%

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance (MEF) Aun Pornmoniroth on Thursday predicted 5.6 GDP percent growth for Cambodia in 2023. He also said Cambodia grew 5.3 percent last year.

Addressing the 35th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific & the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (35th CAP & CSA) and WTO Conference on International Code for Protection of Tourists at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel & Residence in the capital, Pornmoniroth said that these latest figures of Cambodia’s economic growth are positive signs for the government on its ambitious roadmap commitments to achieve the long-term goals to become an upper-middle-income economy by 2030 and a high-income economy by 2050 even as the country has been affected by the complex global storms remains unshaken.

The event was attended by senior government officials including the Tourism Minister Thong Khon and national and international guests from 32 countries in addition to Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary-General of World Tourism Organisation and Dato’Sri Tiong King Sing, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia.

“With the modified environment for business and investment to post-pandemic economic recovery, the achievements that have been made through all of the efforts are the solid foundation for restoring and boosting the socio-economic growth to its normalcy faster,” said Pornmoniroth, adding that the strong growth was reached after they had fallen down to -3.1 percent in 2020 before rising back to 3 percent in 2021.

The Finance Minister further pointed out that the government has been optimistic that tourism—one the main drivers of Cambodia’s economic growth—will grow back to the status before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2025 or 2026 with approximately seven million tourists, while the number of internal tourists has grown remarkably fast with about 13 million people—similar to the number in 2019—enjoyed their holidays in 2022.

“However, the global economic situation and prospects are still fragile and vulnerable to new crises and complexities happening in economic, social, environmental and geopolitical aspects. These factors have still negatively affected our tourism,” said Pornmoniroth, adding many tourism businesses had been closed during Covid-19 pandemic.

Ponmoniroth also pointed out that he has supported the initiative of the World Tourism Organisation to prepare and implement the International Code for Protection of Tourists that Cambodia has become the first country that recognises and implements the document after tourism minister Khon signed it to take care of tourists around the world.

He appealed to the organisation’s members to enhance the establishment of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in both regional and global frameworks to expedite the return and development of tourism sector with stronger resilience. “We have to work together to boost tourism to grow with resilience, sustainability, quality and inclusion,” the minister said.

Source: Khmertimes