We quantify the effects of reopening economic activities after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown on the lives and livelihoods of the workers in the garment, footwear, and travel goods sector in Cambodia. We employ fixed-effects difference-in-differences and quantile regression analyses using a panel survey of 2,000 workers interviewed by phone in June 2021 and June 2022. The impacts are disaggregated by gender. We find that lives and livelihoods of female and male workers have improved since the reopening, albeit not out […]

The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated many developing countries, particularly those in East and Southeast Asia due to their heavy reliance on global economic connections and low public health capacity. Although many have managed a respectful rebound since early 2021, uncertainties in world economic recovery have left many economies in unstable positions. Our study on developing Southeast Asia has several main findings. First, government expenditure on health and economic stimulus packages to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic in developing ASEAN […]

Cambodia’s economy has made significant progress over the decades. However, the smooth and robust developments were significantly disturbed in 2020 with the arrival of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Globally, both internal and external demands, FDI flows, the movement of goods, and travel were all severely impacted by governments increasingly imposing lockdowns and other restrictions to contain the spread of the unprecedented and deadly disease. From an economic standpoint, sectors that are high-contact including tourism, textile and apparel, construction, and real […]

Despite growing research on COVID-19 and its impacts on Cambodia, the extent to which COVID-19 affects Cambodia’s trade, global value chains (GVCs) and export competitiveness has not yet been well established. This study, therefore, aims to fill knowledge gaps and examine the dynamic of Cambodia’s exports, GVCs and competitiveness during the pandemic. Specifically, it analyses Cambodia’s export performance and assesses the extent to which the pandemic affects Cambodia’s export structure and dynamic comparative advantage. The paper will also conduct an […]

In early 2020, Covid-19 caused a global health crisis which drastically limited human interactions and economic activities both within and across borders, disrupted global supply chains, and resulted in economic slowdowns in countries around the world. Cambodia is no exception in this pandemic era. Cambodia registered a negative economic growth rate of -3.1% in 2020 as its service and industry sectors experienced severe declines (-6.7% and -1.2%, respectively). As a small, export-dependent economy, Cambodia is susceptible to external environment conditions. […]