capacity: experts

Establishing “Industrial Development Corridor” and “Fish and Rice Corridor” with China is essential to enhance Cambodia’s capacity for independent development, contributing to boosting the kingdom’s socioeconomic development at a faster pace, experts said on Tuesday.

Cambodia and China are set to establish an “Industrial Development Corridor” to support the conversion of coastal Sihanoukville into a model multipurpose special economic zone, and a “Fish and Rice Corridor” to develop modern ecological agriculture near the Tonle Sap Lake.

Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute of Cambodia, a think-tank under the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone and the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway are key infrastructure to back the establishment of the “Industrial Development Corridor” in Sihanoukville.

He said to achieve this vision, Cambodia needs more investment from China, especially in transportation facilities, power grids, fiber optics networks, and warehousing and logistics.

For the “Fish and Rice Corridor” centered on northwestern Cambodia and the Tonle Sap Lake area, Phea said it will develop modern ecological agriculture and farmers will greatly benefit from it.

“The Industrial Development Corridor is essential to turn Cambodia into an industrial hub, while the Fish and Rice Corridor is crucial to transform the kingdom into a modern agricultural center, with high-quality products,” he told Xinhua.

“These two corridors will give a big boost to Cambodia’s economic development and poverty reduction through creating jobs for workers and farmers,” he added.

Phea said that invigorated by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement and the China-Cambodia Free Trade Agreement, the two corridors will play a crucial role in boosting Cambodia’s economic and export growth and improving the livelihoods of the Cambodian people.

“The establishment of these corridors flawlessly reflects the timely and actual needs of Cambodia in its journey to graduate from least developed country status by 2027 and to become an upper-middle income country in 2030 and a high-income country by 2050,” he said.

Thong Mengdavid, a research supervisor at the Phnom Penh-based Asian Vision Institute, said the two corridor projects will secure the country’s long-term sustainable development of industries, agriculture, and food security.

Source: Xinhua

The eurozone economy will grow slower than previously expected this year and next, the European Commission forecast on Monday as consumer demand suffers from high inflation and the biggest economy, Germany, slips into recession this year.

In its interim forecasts for gross domestic product and inflation of the eurozone’s five biggest economies, the Commission said the single currency area’s GDP (gross domestic product) would expand 0.8% in 2023 and 1.3% in 2024, against forecasts of 1.1% (2023) and 1.6% (2024) made in May.

“Weakness in domestic demand, in particular consumption, shows that high and still increasing consumer prices for most goods and services are taking a heavier toll than expected in the spring forecast,” the Commission said.

“This is despite declining energy prices and an exceptionally strong labour market, which has seen record low unemployment rates, continued expansion of employment, and rising wages,” it said.

The Commission forecast eurozone consumer inflation of 5.6% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024, both well above the European Central Bank’s target of 2%. Inflation this year is to be lower than the 5.8% forecast in May, but higher than previously forecast in 2024, as the May forecast was for 2.8%.

The ECB has been rapidly raising rates since the middle of 2022 to stem record price growth, making credit for the economy more expensive — a factor that hit the growth forecast.

“The sharp slowdown in the provision of bank credit to the economy shows that monetary policy tightening is working its way through the economy,” the Commission said.

“Survey indicators now point to slowing economic activity in the summer and the months ahead, with continued weakness in industry and fading momentum in services, despite a strong tourism season in many parts of Europe,” it said.

Source: Reuters