Prime Minister Hun Sen called for GDP growth figures to include the rural microeconomy.Revise GDP calculation: PM
Monday, 09 March 2009
Written by Kay Kimsong
The Phnom Penh Post
Prime Minister Hun Sen called on GDP growth statistics to include the rural microeconomy, a measure he said would make information more accurate
PRIME Minister Hun Sen wants national economic growth to include the domestic output of women in individual families and small-scale agriculture, criticising recent estimates for therefore being incorrect in omitting such information.
The premier requested that the National Institute of Statistics consider incorporating "home-garden yield" into national growth estimates.
"We haven't calculated GDP per capita correctly. ... If a family has grown two papaya trees and two banana trees and plants four or five eggplants for a daily living, this is a type of growth," Hun Sen announced Friday in a speech ahead of the 99th Anniversary of the International Women's Day.
The premier said Cambodia's gross domestic product would be much higher if the small or micro-scale economies of individual families were included, and said that such economies have prevented Cambodia from being exposed to the full brunt of the global financial crisis.
Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Centre for Studies and Agricultural Development (CEDAC), agreed that home-garden yield does contribute to the national economy by creating jobs while reducing the cost of family income in rural areas. He urged the government to take measures to help villagers plant more crops, fruit trees, vegetables and plants for individual family food security.
"Sources of income for villagers are very small. If villagers are able to grow their own vegetables at home, their expenditures will be reduced," he added.
Yang Saing Koma also called for the government to provide financial and technical assistance to slow the importation of fruits and vegetables in order to protect national output.
"If the government is able to limit the amount of imported agricultural goods from neighbouring countries, Cambodian farmers will be able to meet growing domestic demand," he said.
Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodia Economic Association, said he welcomed the idea of encouraging individual families to grow their own products, but including it in GDP would not alter the standard of living.
"If we counted home-garden yield in the official economy, we will see GDP increase, but living conditions will not change," he said.
He added that micro-scale economies did not generate much revenue in rural-level economies, and if it were included in national GDP growth, the number would likely remain unchanged.
"This year a family raises five chickens and next year they keep raising five chickens, it is not growth," said Chan Sophal.
Hun Sen's comments were made the same day that the International Monetary Fund forecast that Cambodia's GDP this year would contract half a percent.
PRIME Minister Hun Sen wants national economic growth to include the domestic output of women in individual families and small-scale agriculture, criticising recent estimates for therefore being incorrect in omitting such information.
The premier requested that the National Institute of Statistics consider incorporating "home-garden yield" into national growth estimates.
"We haven't calculated GDP per capita correctly. ... If a family has grown two papaya trees and two banana trees and plants four or five eggplants for a daily living, this is a type of growth," Hun Sen announced Friday in a speech ahead of the 99th Anniversary of the International Women's Day.
The premier said Cambodia's gross domestic product would be much higher if the small or micro-scale economies of individual families were included, and said that such economies have prevented Cambodia from being exposed to the full brunt of the global financial crisis.
Yang Saing Koma, president of the Cambodian Centre for Studies and Agricultural Development (CEDAC), agreed that home-garden yield does contribute to the national economy by creating jobs while reducing the cost of family income in rural areas. He urged the government to take measures to help villagers plant more crops, fruit trees, vegetables and plants for individual family food security.
"If a family has grown two papaya trees ... this is a type of growth.""It is hard to know how much the microeconomy has shared in the scale of national economic growth, but it is quite a lot," he said.
"Sources of income for villagers are very small. If villagers are able to grow their own vegetables at home, their expenditures will be reduced," he added.
Yang Saing Koma also called for the government to provide financial and technical assistance to slow the importation of fruits and vegetables in order to protect national output.
"If the government is able to limit the amount of imported agricultural goods from neighbouring countries, Cambodian farmers will be able to meet growing domestic demand," he said.
Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodia Economic Association, said he welcomed the idea of encouraging individual families to grow their own products, but including it in GDP would not alter the standard of living.
"If we counted home-garden yield in the official economy, we will see GDP increase, but living conditions will not change," he said.
He added that micro-scale economies did not generate much revenue in rural-level economies, and if it were included in national GDP growth, the number would likely remain unchanged.
"This year a family raises five chickens and next year they keep raising five chickens, it is not growth," said Chan Sophal.
Hun Sen's comments were made the same day that the International Monetary Fund forecast that Cambodia's GDP this year would contract half a percent.
18 comments:
Mille parole mille geste ne vaut pas un bonne parole et un bon geste fort de tous les jours . La richesse matérielle objet léthal mais la richesse spirituelle est éternelle Apres la mort on se souvient toujours de vous
I undoubtedly admire and respect Samdech Doctoral Hun SenVarman's last degree in an economic Phd, which he can masterfully and scholarly enlighten me of two banana trees and two papaya trees into the simple national growth. Wow?
son of farmer
your comment is hilarious. i enjoyed it
Hun Sen is getting desperate by trying to change the definition of GDP.
Hun Sen and everyone need to remember that when you seek to describe the condition of an economy, there is no one number that truely describe how the well or poorly the economy is doing. You must look at numerous stats to understand the general direction of the economy.
And always remembers"
"Statistic is like a bikini, what it reveals is as interesting as what it hides"
Actually, if all the money scammed by pouk Ah Scam Rainxy is added to the GDP, Khmer people standard of living will be twice better than they are now.
Hun Sen speaks for his mind and it shows how much he knows and thought as a capacity as a prime minister. Should I say more?
Nobody knows everything, but that doesn't mean he can't get what he needed from hundreds of advisers from around the world. On the other hand, Pouk Ah Scam Rainxy doesn't know shit from being a loser all of their life. Isn't that right?
HUn sEn is not khmer that is why he is abusing his own country, people and its future.
Actually, if all the money scammed by pouk Ah Scam Hun Sen and his CPP gangster is added to the GDP, Khmer people standard of living will be twice better than they are now.
From Khmer U.S.A.
Which eye is his real eye; both of the them look identical.
1:21Am both eyes are not working!
To Hun XeN!\#$@%$
If you care that way please do nor grab land from people!
From one Phnoung
A complete fool acts as he know alot.
Well, Hanoi don't give out Phd for nothing.
Cambodia is shamed to have this kind of leader with mental problem. People around the world would only look down to Cambodian for having this kind of leader with limited leadership skills. This man has a skill of killings and fighting in the marquis only but not in international forum.
Hanoi only gives phd to idoits to fool them that they are not idiots. Good reversed pshycology
Do you know that Hun Sen fucking smart? but I thing that his electel only in toul krasing.even tooth pick,He still import!!
To change the formula of calculating GDP Growth !!! unbelievable !!! That's it is called autodidact with the cheap Ph D.
GO ahead, poor man.
If you want to be truly educated, then you want to attend school and university in Hanoi.
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