Report: Cambodia’s FDI Focuses Mostly on Construction Sector

• 24 April 2019
• Local News
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Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows peaked at 13.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 and more than half of all FDI originated from China.

These Chinese FDI inflows were directed towards construction (infrastructure, commercial and residential real estate), tourism and, to a lesser extent, to manufacturing and agriculture, according to a World Bank East Asia Pacific Economic Update report published on Wednesday 23 April 2019.

“The seaside provincial town of Sihanoukville continues to be the hot spot of the current construction boom, financed largely by FDI from China,” the report states.

In 2018, bank lending to the construction, real estate and mortgage sectors continued to drive domestic credit expansion, contributing about a third of credit growth, states the report, citing that this was followed by the wholesale and retail sector, which captured 19% of credit.

With the growth of the construction sector, steel imports rose by 48% year-on-year in 2018, the report went on, but it did not attach specific figures, or the total amount of steel imported.

The economy achieved growth of 7.5% in 2018, compared to 7.0% in 2017, the report stated. GDP was US$24.1 billion and GDP per capita was US$1,477.

For the 2019 economic growth projection, Cambodia’s economy is expected to ease to 7%, while remaining near 7% in the short term until 2021.

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