Cambodia

This paper discusses the progress made by Cambodia from the early 90s to 2007, in reduction of poverty incidence. Reduced poverty occurred in both urban and rural areas,... Show More + and was experienced by rich and poor, and by men and women. Households, including those in the poorest groups, have improved their housing quality, increased ownership of motorbikes, televisions, and mobile phones, and are better able to access and afford schools and healthcare. However, the study warns about complacency, because poverty is still pervasive in the rural areas, and a multi-dimensional approach is needed to tackle it. The gap in income and opportunities remains wide between the rich and the poor, the urban and rural regions and more importantly, within the rural areas themselves. The report concludes that it is clear that Cambodia has made substantial improvements in the information systems available to guide public policy. The next step is to improve coordination among the information sources and develop a national information system that allows for the combined use of information and the setting of priorities based on an assessment of needs and existing gaps in the country. To address these problems, an evaluation of the quality, relevance and use of information produced in Cambodia is necessary in order to establish standards and identify areas of improvement. Show Less -

Cambodia's changing distribution of income-related outcomes is consistent with the process of transition from a planned to an open market economy, and the accompanying... Show More + growth of incomes. This transformation has promoted better resource reallocation, expanded the spectrum of gainful activities, and widened the distribution of earnings. Aided by robust economic growth and improved capacity for implementing public policies, Cambodia has seen most other welfare outcomes (notably health and education indicators) become more equal over time. While a radical shift of development strategy is not necessary, improvements in public spending and selected interventions can further promote equality of opportunity, and public policies can promote an expansion of private investment opportunities. The findings of the report point to the following sets of government actions: (i) continuing economic reform to promote investments and sustain growth; (ii) protecting land tenure through systemic titling, and addressing landlessness related poverty through various measures (e.g., social land concessions; non-farm employment); (iii) building upon progress to date with further improvements in the quantity, quality and affordability of schooling and healthcare; and underpinning service delivery reforms with stronger and more responsive state institutions through continued reforms of public financial management and merit-based civil service pay. Show Less -

The latest (2004) household survey finds that 35 percent of Cambodians live below the national poverty line, down from an estimated 47 percent a decade earlier (although... Show More + the two surveys are not directly comparable. Over these ten years, Cambodia consolidated peace and achieved an economic growth of about 7 percent per annum. Non-income indicators such as ownership of consumer durables, housing quality, and schooling indicate that the living standards of the population, including the poor, have improved between 1994 and 2004. These gains reflect the economic and social development since the early 1990s, when Cambodia embarked on a three-fold transition from civil war to peace, from one-party to multiparty politics, and from an isolated and subsistence-oriented economy to one based on the market, and open to international trade. Although all segments of society benefited over the last decade, the rise in living standards has been more pronounced in urban areas, and among the richest quintile. The extreme poor (the bottom 20 percent who fall below the food poverty line) have experienced significantly slower growth in real consumption than the "normal" poor. Thus, to accelerate poverty reduction by improving productivity and profitability in the rural economy will require: 1) secure property rights to private land, particularly for smallholders; 2) emphasis on small holder agriculture for both growth and poverty reduction; 3) equitable access to common property resources as a critical source of income and security for the rural poor; 4) increased investments in productivity-enhancing infrastructure; and, 5) improved human development and human capital, through the pro-poor delivery of basic services in education and health. The report first lays the key facts on the nature of poverty in 2004, and-for the first time in Cambodia-on poverty trends. Then it provides a diagnosis of the relationships between growth, institutions and poverty, highlighting the need to focus on the rural economy, to then analyze the binding constraints to shared growth, noting in particular the role of property rights, rural infrastructure and human capital. The report takes stock by comparing Cambodia's performance in reducing poverty to that of other countries; laying out alternative poverty projections for the next ten years; and, describing the Government's new five-year development plan. Finally, the report provides a brief discussion of broad policy priorities for public action to promote growth, service delivery, and poverty reduction. Show Less -

This first poverty assessment for Cambodia is based on the 1997 update of Cambodia's baseline poverty profile of 1993-94. This report recommends three components to... Show More + a broad poverty reduction strategy for Cambodia: expanding economic opportunities through rapid growth-particularly growth of the rural sector; helping the poor build human assets; and providing an adequate safety net to address the needs of vulnerable groups in society. The government's Five-Year Socioeconomic Plan (1996-2000( gives priority to poverty reduction and recognizes these three elements as critical to its anti-poverty strategy. Chapter 1 profiles the demographics of poverty in Cambodia, based on a socioeconomic survey of households conducted in 1997. Chapter 2 highlights the linkages between anti-poverty policy and the two decades of war and civil strife including repatriation and reintegration of internally displaced persons and returnees; aiding the disabled and infestation by mines and unexploded ordnance; and defense expenditures and the shift to social spending. Chapter 3 explores the relationship between economic recovery and poverty. Chapter 4 examines disparities among the poor in education, especially school enrollment. Chapter 5 looks at access to and use of health services. Chapter 6 focuses on the issues of raising rural incomes and ensuring food security. Lastly, Chapter 7 pulls together the policy recommendations of earlier chapters into a broad strategy for achieving state objectives. Show Less -

This public expenditure review (PER) undertakes a systematic review of the adequacy and effectiveness of public expenditures in Cambodia. It makes concrete recommendations,... Show More + aiming to help the government strengthen its capacity to manage public expenditures. While the PER analyses sector - specific issues for various sectors within the overall framework, it provides a more in-depth analysis of the health and education sectors because of their direct relevance to poverty reduction strategy through human resources development. The PER looks at governance; assesses recent economic developments and structural reforms; examines domestic resource mobilization and the scope of public expenditures; estimates foregone revenues; constructs a consolidated public expenditures database; and assesses the implications of institutional arrangements and management practices. It concludes by presenting two alternative macroeconomic scenarios over the medium term. Annexes deal with forestry management, peace dividends, the health sector, and the education sector. Show Less -

In a very short time Cambodia has made impressive progress in achieving peace and stability. Following UN-sponsored elections in May 1993 and three months of an interim... Show More + government, a national government was established in late September 1993 within a framework of parliamentary democracy, under a new constitution, with a constitutional monarch as head of state. The ultimate Government objective is to rebuild the country and to realize its full economic potential and, in the process, to reduce poverty, which is the dominant feature of the Cambodian situation. The donor community has pledged its support for Cambodia's recovery. However, institutional constraints and the lack of suitably qualified personnel at the operational level are causing rehabilitation programs to proceed more slowly than the Government had expected. It should therefore be emphasized that rebuilding the economy and reconstructing the physical capital ravaged by two decades of conflict will take many years and must be expected to continue well beyond the time horizon of the suggested policy framework of 1994-96. The rehabilitation program described in this report sets the stage for the next phase of the Government's recovery process: reconstruction and development. This report analyzes the nation's recent economic development considers the present macroeconomic situation and discusses a framework for recovery. Moreover, it considers sectoral policies and programs. The sectors discussed include agricultural and rural development, the transportation and energy sector, water supply, health, education, natural resource management and the environment, and the public and private sectors. Show Less -