Kingdom's deficit on ADB radar

CAMBODIA’S current account deficit and high levels of public debt are “causing concern” at the Asia Development Bank, according to a new report, but the domestic economy is on pace to grow 4.5 percent this year.

The current account deficit – measuring the difference between a nation’s exports and imports, including foreign aid – was highlighted as a cause for concern in Cambodia, along with Laos and Vietnam, in the Asia Economic Monitor report, launched in Singapore yesterday.

Cambodia’s current-account deficit has averaged 4.6 percent of GDP over the last decade, the lowest among 14 Asian countries surveyed, meaning that the Kingdom has been importing more than it exports.

However, yesterday commentators said that a trade deficit was not necessarily a problem – provided that imported goods would be used to fuel future domestic production and create exports.

“A trade deficit doesn’t always reflect a country’s economic strength,” University of Cambodia economics lecturer Chheng Kimlong told the Post.

Kingdom verges on massive rice deal

THE Philippines aims to buy up to 300,000 tonnes of rice from Cambodia, an official said, as the Kingdom’s leading rice firm prepares for talks with agro-investment officers on Tuesday.


Baitang Kampuchea Plc (BKP), which works with 350 rice mills across the Kingdom, is set to meet Philippine officials next week to discuss the possibility of exporting rice to the country – reported to be the world’s biggest buyer of the grain.

Ny Lyheng, deputy general manager of BKP, said yesterday: “Under this meeting, we hope that the company will receive orders for a large amount of rice in the future.”

Pablito Villegas, agribusiness investment officer for the Philippines’ first trade mission to Cambodia, told Philippine news outlet GMA News TV yesterday that the nation wished to buy from 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of Cambodian rice.

At about US$310 per tonne of 25 percent broken rice, this would amount to $93 million.