ADB to pump $1 billion in development loans into Cambodia
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered Cambodia development loans of more than $1 billion in the coming four years as the Manila-based financial institution scales up operations across the region – a move that some see as a response to China’s newly-formed competing institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The loans are earmarked to help the country invest in infrastructure, education and other essential sectors, the ADB said. Altogether, a $1.09-billion loan package will be granted to Cambodia, on top of the $2.65 billion the bank has lent Cambodia since the early 1990s, making the ADB Cambodia’s single largest multilateral development partner.
However, critics say that the billions the country received in development aid over the past years are not necessarily reflected by the current state of Cambodia’s infrastructure and education system. There are still a lot of shortcomings in those sectors and insufficient monitoring and evaluation of what is actually done with the aid money and development loans in a country that Transparency International ranks 95 out of 168 nations in its Global Corruption Perceptions Index.
Meanwhile, both the World Bank and the ADB set their GDP growth forecasts for Cambodia at seven per cent in 2016, citing solid garment export growth of more than ten per cent in the first half of the year and a continued resilience in the construction sector. It has also been noted that government revenue increased by 24.1 per cent due to “improved tax collection,” but that this has been offset by 15.6 per cent increase in government spending and by what is called “abnormal funding allocations” in Cambodia’s general department of taxation.
The World Bank, however, warns of risks to Cambodia’s economic growth due to potential uncertainty related to upcoming elections, a sharp decline in the construction sector, a fallout from possibly rising US interest rates, regional tensions and slower global growth.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered Cambodia development loans of more than $1 billion in the coming four years as the Manila-based financial institution scales up operations across the region – a move that some see as a response to China’s newly-formed competing institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The loans are earmarked to help the country invest in infrastructure, education and other essential sectors, the ADB said. Altogether, a $1.09-billion loan package will be granted to Cambodia, on top of the $2.65 billion the bank has lent Cambodia since the early 1990s, making the ADB Cambodia’s single largest...
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered Cambodia development loans of more than $1 billion in the coming four years as the Manila-based financial institution scales up operations across the region – a move that some see as a response to China’s newly-formed competing institution, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
The loans are earmarked to help the country invest in infrastructure, education and other essential sectors, the ADB said. Altogether, a $1.09-billion loan package will be granted to Cambodia, on top of the $2.65 billion the bank has lent Cambodia since the early 1990s, making the ADB Cambodia’s single largest multilateral development partner.
However, critics say that the billions the country received in development aid over the past years are not necessarily reflected by the current state of Cambodia’s infrastructure and education system. There are still a lot of shortcomings in those sectors and insufficient monitoring and evaluation of what is actually done with the aid money and development loans in a country that Transparency International ranks 95 out of 168 nations in its Global Corruption Perceptions Index.
Meanwhile, both the World Bank and the ADB set their GDP growth forecasts for Cambodia at seven per cent in 2016, citing solid garment export growth of more than ten per cent in the first half of the year and a continued resilience in the construction sector. It has also been noted that government revenue increased by 24.1 per cent due to “improved tax collection,” but that this has been offset by 15.6 per cent increase in government spending and by what is called “abnormal funding allocations” in Cambodia’s general department of taxation.
The World Bank, however, warns of risks to Cambodia’s economic growth due to potential uncertainty related to upcoming elections, a sharp decline in the construction sector, a fallout from possibly rising US interest rates, regional tensions and slower global growth.
