By Sok Lak
For the last 10 years, the government, in a private sector forum, has helped address countless issues and according to a 2009 World Bank report, Cambodia was ranked first among 24 countries for investment and further investments in Cambodia will grow. According to a report by the Council for the Development of Cambodia, has approved 76 investment projects worth more than three billion dollars in the first semester of 2011, which is nearly a two fold growth compared to the same period in 2011.
According to the Doing Business 2011 Report, Cambodia is ranked 147th out of 183 economies. The largest improvement was recorded in the Trading across Borders Indicator where the country jumped 8 spots by eliminating reshipment inspections and reducing the time and number of documents required for importing and exporting.
“Cambodia is among the few countries in the region that guarantee moving goods through internet registration, and that system is gaining popularity among the private sector,” H.E. Keat Chhon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, said at the opening of the conference on “2011 Commerce and Investment: Global Challenge and Cambodia’s policy Response.” He added that new laws on commercial contracts are under preparation to ensure the certainty of business. “The strengthening of legal frameworks and organization of Government-Private Sector forums clearly indicate that Cambodia is paying great attention to business investment facilitation.
In the Enterprise Surveys (2007) report, it is also reported that the top three constraints to investment in Cambodia are Corruption, Electricity and Political Instability.
According to the Investing Across Borders Indicators, Cambodia is one of the more open countries to foreign equity ownership in the East Asia and the Pacific region. As the Index of Economic Freedom indicates, Cambodia has an economic freedom score of 57.9, making its economy the 102nd freest in the 2011 Index covering 183 countries. Its overall score is 1.3 points better than last year due to improvements in monetary freedom, labor freedom, and freedom from corruption. Cambodia continues to integrate into the global trading framework and is making progress in reducing poverty. There has been notable reform in the management of public finances, and the trade regime is more open and transparent. However, lingering institutional weaknesses hamper macroeconomic stability and retard growth.
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