Food systems should be at the heart of Cambodia’s development, positively influencing health, economic growth, and climate resilience while creating food security. Yet current diets, dominated by large amounts of rice and excessive ultra-processed foods and sugar, are driving a triple burden...

This technical assistance report summarizes the findings from the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s September 2025 mission to Phnom Penh, aimed at renewing engagement with the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) and shaping the FY2026 capacity development workplan. Against the...

This paper investigates the external drivers of Cambodia’s credit cycles using a dynamic factor model. Results indicate that common global and regional factors explain over 60 percent of credit growth variance, reflecting one of Asia’s highest sensitivities to external conditions. The...

Cambodia is not alone in facing capacity limitations in the production and timely release of key official statistics needed for data-driven policy decisions. This paper demonstrates that combining satellite-derived indicators (e.g., nighttime lights, NO₂ emissions, vegetation indices) with...

High trade costs pose substantial barriers to the process of trade liberalization. This study aims to measure trade costs and explore the driving forces behind the growth of bilateral trade between Cambodia and its top 30 trading partners from 1993 to 2019. Using a micro-founded measure of trade...

Southeast Asia has long been a foreign policy priority for Japan, but Tokyo has intensified its engagement - both with the ASEAN Community as a whole and with individual member states - since 2012. Japan views China's growing influence in Southeast Asia as a major foreign policy challenge and is...

"Trade Policy Reviews" analyse the trade policies and practices of each member of the WTO. The reviews consist of three parts: an independent report by the WTO Secretariat, a report by the government, and the concluding remarks by the Chair of the WTO's Trade Policy Review Body. The opening...

The objective of this report is to support evidence-based decision-making to improve TVET performance by filling knowledge gaps on TVET institutions under the purview of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT). The study's preliminary findings informed the design of the World...

This report aims to fill the knowledge gap on green jobs by better defining them in Cambodia and establishing a baseline on their prevalence, their trends, their task content, and their key characteristics. The report intends to add the information base needed to align the education and training...

Cambodia is facing substantial risks to macroeconomic stability and sustained growth from three simultaneous shocks: an ongoing property market downturn, the Cambodian-Thai border conflict, and rising trade restrictions. First, a sustained property sector downturn is weighing heavily on domestic...

The outlook for global activity has weakened, reflecting rising uncertainty amid major trade policy shifts. In this context, consensus forecasts for global growth this year have fallen markedly. Investor sentiment has also shown signs of weakening. High frequency global activity indicators have...

Southeast Asia has long been a foreign policy priority for Japan, but Tokyo has intensified its engagement - both with the ASEAN Commu­nity as a whole and with individual member states - since 2012. Japan views China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia as a major foreign policy challenge...

This article examines the role of local industrial relations, specifically workplace unions and collective bargaining, in improving the working conditions of apparel factories exporting to multinational brands and retailers. Drawing on a unique data set collected in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Haiti,...

Transformation of the food system is critical in the face of growing challenges such as climate change. Smallholder farmers in the Global South are particularly vulnerable to these challenges, often living in poverty. One potential pathway to increasing their resilience and income is through...

Cambodia's economy is at a crossroads. While the economic recovery continues, its pace remains uneven. The sharp slowdown in credit growth has exposed the economy to increased financial sector vulnerabilities. Policy formulation must ensure a durable and inclusive recovery in the near term and...

Purpose - Cambodia's sustained and robust growth performance since the post-reform era in 1993 has been attributed to the boom in inward foreign direct investment (FDI) attracted to the country's labor-intensive industries, where it has comparative advantages. The purpose of this study is...

Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) allows public sector organizations to procure goods and services while maximizing value for money, benefiting society and the economy, and minimizing environmental damage. Cambodia's 2023 Environmental and Natural Resources (ENR) Code emphasizes SPP and...

We examine the potential economic impacts of the new United States (US) tariff on Cambodia using a dynamic global general equilibrium model (GTAP-FIN). We simulate the impact of US tariff increases announced in August 2025 while also examining two additional hypothetical cases for Cambodia....

Transitioning to clean energy use is crucial for reducing emissions and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in developing nations like Cambodia, where many still rely on dirty fuels. This study uses multivariate probit and censored tobit models to investigate the factors that...

This Selected Issues paper focuses on Cambodia’s satellite data for nowcasting. Cambodia faces limited institutional capacity in the production and timely release of quality official statistics, limiting policymakers’ ability to make agile and effective policy decisions. The machine learning...

The 2025 Article IV Consultation discusses that Cambodia’s economy continued to accelerate in 2024, and growth reached 6.0 percent, bolstered by a strong rebound in garment and agricultural exports and a continued recovery in tourism. Economic growth is projected to decelerate to 4.8 percent...

We examine the potential economic impacts of the new United States (US) tariff on Cambodia using a dynamic global general equilibrium model (GTAP-FIN). We simulate the impact of US tariff increases announced in August 2025 while also examining two additional hypothetical cases for Cambodia....

Pribble investigates the barter economies that developed in many of the labor camps established under the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. When the Khmer Rouge abolished currency and markets in 1975, starving Cambodians created underground exchanges in labor camps throughout the country, bartering...

Cambodia is expected to graduate from Least Developed Country status soon, at which time it will be required to make patents available for pharmaceutical products and processes to meet its obligations under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). Given its...

Countries are increasingly adopting industrial strategies and policies in response to global crises and emerging economic trends. With regards to the textiles and clothing sector, industrial strategies and policies, when developed in an inclusive manner, can address economic, social and...

This study examines the impact of different leadership styles on technostress within public organizations in Cambodia amidst the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilizing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), data were collected from 351 employees working in various...

Cambodia has made significant strides in expanding access to education over the past decade. The country's net enrollment rates have increased steadily, with primary education attendance reaching 90 percent in 2019, up from 81 percent in 2009. Similarly, enrollments at the lower and upper...

Countries are increasingly adopting industrial strategies and policies in response to global crises and emerging economic trends. With regards to the textiles and clothing sector, industrial strategies and policies, when developed in an inclusive manner, can address economic, social and...

Environmental degradation is the largest public health challenge of the century and is likely to be exacerbated by climate change. This study undertakes a comprehensive examination of the health implications of environmental hazards in Cambodia, simultaneously addressing extreme temperatures,...

In December 2021, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) published Cambodia's Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN), which outlines the country's vision in achieving a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. As part of the long-term strategies to achieve net-zero emissions, the RGC set...

The main objective of this study is to assess the performance of Cambodia's tertiary education system in terms of equitable access, labor market relevance, and research output, and to provide policy recommendations to the government and all stakeholders in the tertiary education sector. This...

Since Cambodia's first Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD1), the country's economy has continued to grow strongly, reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity. Growth continued to be driven largely by factor accumulation, with limited contributions from productivity, which is not sustainable over...

During the last decade Cambodia succeeded in achieving significant domestic resource mobilization which in turn enabled a rapid expansion of social spending. During the next decade it should shift from spending more to spending better. This Public Finance Review (PFR) informs the next phase of...