This paper investigates the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on Cambodian rural households, mainly focussing on trends in household consumption and poverty, i.e. the poverty headcount ratio, poverty gap and squared poverty gap, using four-period panel data covering the years 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2011. Descriptive statistics reveal that all study villages except Andoung Trach experienced a sharp drop in consumption per capita between 2008 and 2011. As a result, the 2011 poverty headcount ratio shot up […]

This chapter assesses how the global economic and financial crisis has affected employment in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction and tourism sectors in Phnom Penh municipality and Siem Reap province.  Key areas of analysis are SMEs’ business performance, fixed assets value, and employment, and support received to cope with the crisis. The methodology involved a survey of 120 SMEs, 60 from each of the two sectors. The global crisis affected the business performance and fixed assets value […]

Although the global economy is recovering from the financial and economic crisis that started in 2008, many countries have not returned to their pre-crisis growth rates. Cambodia is no exception. Despite its rich endowment of natural resources, especially minerals, oil and gas, the country still depends on a narrow growth base of just four sectors: garments and textiles, tourism, construction and agriculture. Agriculture apart, heavy reliance on foreign investment and markets makes these sectors vulnerable to external shocks, which have […]