The Cambodian government had a total public debt of 10.72 billion U.S. dollars as of September 2023, according to the Cambodia Public Debt Statistical Bulletin released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday.
The public debt comprised 64 percent from bilateral development partners and 36 percent from multilateral development partners, the bulletin said.
The composition of the public debt was comprised of 47 percent in USD, 20 percent in SDR (Special Drawing Rights), 11 percent in CNY, 11 percent in JPY, 7 percent in EUR and the rest in local and other currencies, the bulletin said.
During the January-September period this year, the government had signed new concessional loans with developmentd partners in a total amount of 1 billion dollars, which accounted for 45 percent of the ceiling permitted by law, it said.
“Overall, all the loans are highly concessional with an average grant element of around 43 percent,” the bulletin said. “The purpose of these new signed loans is to finance public investment projects in the priority sectors that support long-term sustainable economic growth and increase economic productivity.”
The bulletin said the Southeast Asian country had paid debt services to development partners in the amount of 437.5 million dollars during the first nine months of this year.
The kingdom’s public debt situation remained “sustainable” and “low risk” of debt distress despite being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and other external factors, it said.
The total public debt is at 24.2 percent of the country’s GDP (gross domestic product), which is far lower than the threshold of 40 percent, according to the bulletin. Source: xinhua
