Description

Cambodia approaches LDC graduation with real strengths: sustained foreign investment, deep export integration, and a young workforce. These advantages give Cambodia a strong foundation for the transition, but not a guarantee that convergence toward the authorities' income ambitions will continue. LDC graduation raises the stakes: as preferences erode and market access requirements tighten, growth will depend more on domestic capabilities, firm upgrading, and productive employment that raises earnings and supports higher value added. The priority is therefore to raise the domestic payoff from investment by developing local suppliers, connecting workers to more productive firms, and reducing the regulatory and infrastructure bottlenecks that prevent firms from scaling.

More publications in this series: Selected Issues Papers