Economic Growth Brings Optimism and Rising Expectations in Cambodia

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By Silas Everett

Bolstered by a massive construction boom over the last few years, Cambodia now boasts one of the world’s fastest growing economies and was one of the few countries able to meet its Millennium Development Goals. In fact, Cambodia, which has halved its poverty rate in one decade, is now entering lower-middle income status. However, until now, the link between the country’s rapid growth and the future economic and political expectations of Cambodians and their livelihoods has been largely unexplored.

Bolstered by a massive construction boom over the last few years, Cambodia now boasts one of the world’s fastest growing economies and is one of the few countries able to meet its Millennium Development Goals. Photo/Karl Grobl

The Asia Foundation just released a national survey interviewing over 3,000 households to better understand the most recent social, political, and economic trends in the perceptions and views of different social groups across Cambodia. The survey, conducted between July and September of 2015, finds a prevailing sense of optimism among respondents, both economically and politically. Among possible outcomes in the next elections, respondents most frequently said they believe reforms will occur irrespective of which political party is in power.

Importantly, the survey was conducted just months before major political events rattled the country in October 2015. Anti-Hun Sen protests in Paris during Prime Minister Hun Sen’s state visit were met with violent retaliation back in Cambodia. Two members of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party were removed from their car outside of Cambodia’s National Assembly and beaten. These events coincided with the stripping of the opposition’s chair as vice president of the National Assembly, and the issuing of an arrest warrant for opposition leader Sam Rainsy who is now in self-imposed exile. Still, while the survey was conducted prior to these major events and was therefore not able to capture the impact of October’s political confrontation on public opinion, the survey findings do suggest Cambodians held largely optimistic views during the time prior to the events, a period of political collaboration.

read more: http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2016/02/24/economic-growth-brings-optimism-and-rising-expectations-in-cambodia/