Cambodia is set to receive $965 million in financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to promote development in priority areas and create programs that seek to rehabilitate and spur economic growth.
Chhuon Samreth, head of the General Department of International Cooperation and Debt Management at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, told The Post that the money would be put toward areas such as physical infrastructure, agriculture, energy, education and health.
He said that the financing plan is to be applied to these priority areas over a three-year period, with expert teams to study each project in the plan to examine their feasibility before reaching a loan agreement, concession or grant. “So we need about another year for each project,” he estimated.
In a recent meeting with ADB managing director Um Woochong, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Veng Sakhon requested that the bank consider supporting major projects in several key areas.
These concern agricultural production chains, support for construction projects that modernise the agricultural sector, and the promotion of development in the aquaculture sub-sector to increase the efficiency of production systems.
“We have already submitted proposals to the ADB for these important projects, but it is up to the finance ministry to decide which projects have priority to receive ADB funding,” he said.
During a meeting with a delegation of the ADB’s executive board, finance ministry permanent secretary of state Vongsey Vissoth said that the bank has made significant contributions to support Cambodia financially and technically, especially during the Kingdom’s “difficult” fight against Covid-19.
“Cambodia is very grateful to the executive board of the ADB for providing common sense [assistance to] Cambodia, especially on implementation of the Country Partnership Strategy for Cambodia Development 2019-2023,” he said.
He said that Cambodia sees a number of challenges ahead, such as the Russia-Ukraine crisis and other ongoing geopolitical conflicts, which have collectively sparked concern about a looming global economic crisis.
