By Tim Johnston
Financial Times
Could frontier market Cambodia become a serious contender for Asian tiger status? The country certainly has a buzz about it: flights into the capital are filled with businessmen, the once rural outskirts of Phnom Penh are fast turning into one big construction site, and the roads of the city centre are gridlocked with Lexus four-wheel drives.
According to a UBS note to its clients today, the country is starting to make a roar, albeit small. And when it comes to manufacturing, Cambodia is fast becoming a ‘mini tiger’.
According to Jonathan Anderson at UBS in Hong Kong, Cambodia’s manufacturing base has significantly benefitted from the globalisation boom of the past decade.
Cambodia’s manufacturing sector is growing at an astonishing rate - in real terms (the Cambodian currency) it has more than quadrupled in the last decade, but as a manufacturing economy it still has some way to go: manufacturing still represents less than 15 per cent of GDP according to the latest figures from the ADB.
But Cambodia is quietly attracting more and more attention. In 2008, Leopard Capital launched the country’s first dedicated fund, and although the $34m raised was a long way short of the $100m it was aiming for (it was after all the middle of the global crisis), it plans to launch another $50m fund later this year to be split between Cambodia and Laos.
In today’s UBS note, Anderson has taken a look at the extent to which developing economies dependent on manufacturing have expanded their manufacturing exports relative to GDP over the last decade. The standouts were Cambodia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Thailand and Vietnam, all of which increased their exports by more than 25 percentage points.
While Cambodia becoming a tiger overnight may be premature, the note certainly offers some food for thought.
According to a UBS note to its clients today, the country is starting to make a roar, albeit small. And when it comes to manufacturing, Cambodia is fast becoming a ‘mini tiger’.
According to Jonathan Anderson at UBS in Hong Kong, Cambodia’s manufacturing base has significantly benefitted from the globalisation boom of the past decade.
The country has quietly established itself as a “mini-tiger” in textile processing and assembly, a fact generally overlooked by most investors including ourselves.So is Cambodia poised to take on official emerging market status? Not yet.
Cambodia’s manufacturing sector is growing at an astonishing rate - in real terms (the Cambodian currency) it has more than quadrupled in the last decade, but as a manufacturing economy it still has some way to go: manufacturing still represents less than 15 per cent of GDP according to the latest figures from the ADB.
But Cambodia is quietly attracting more and more attention. In 2008, Leopard Capital launched the country’s first dedicated fund, and although the $34m raised was a long way short of the $100m it was aiming for (it was after all the middle of the global crisis), it plans to launch another $50m fund later this year to be split between Cambodia and Laos.
In today’s UBS note, Anderson has taken a look at the extent to which developing economies dependent on manufacturing have expanded their manufacturing exports relative to GDP over the last decade. The standouts were Cambodia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Thailand and Vietnam, all of which increased their exports by more than 25 percentage points.
While Cambodia becoming a tiger overnight may be premature, the note certainly offers some food for thought.
16 comments:
Cambodia is the mini-dog, tiger my ass
To all khmer living oversea please visit cambodia today to see the change. cambodia today is amazingly fast changing, phnompenh is bigger then HongKong now and getting bigger everyday I'm very happy to see cambodia development so please go visit your mother land and you will see alot difference then you think.
Cambodia would be a Kingdom of Banana for ever if Hun Sen remains PM all life long.
Ye, a lot of difference: Hookers are every where, they give you free blow job for promotions. Child sex is also available, please ask
OK! a migit dog of China! Pekinoir!
MIKI peki ah Touch PAPA!
Hahahah....those guys may no longer be Khmer....everyday they just wish khmer to be down and down....Everyday, I think they are afraid that american kick them out of its country and return back to Cambodia..Those guy like that I also don't want them to be my country men. If we die, we die in motherland, this is where we belong to and this is your ancestor land. Not run away and blame others remotely.....Think yourselves, what did you do for the montherland? Cambodia is changing
It is going to be more than that to blow the sucker up again!
Cambodia is a chihuahua of the world. We love to be dog. DOn't ask me why
2:10am,
You must be living is some sort of delusional reality. Phnom Penh isn't even a significant fraction of the size and immensity of Hong Kong. It is barely but most comparable to Da Nang City Vietnam. I was in Phnom Penh last year and yes there is a lot of development but it is very lagging. Cambodia in general is 15-20 years behind Vietnam and 35 years behind Thailand in terms of economy, development and infrastructure.
6:58AM,
I was in Hanoi, Saigon(or Ho Chi Min City), Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Chiang Mai early this year.
Though I agree Cambodia is behind Thailand and Vietnam in economic development, it also important to note which city you are comparing.
In Vietnam, Hanoi is not as develop as the Saigon, neither is Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
For country that died, economically for 4 years during the KR period, Cambodia's development is progressing.
Bangkok on the other hand, had an uninterrupted development, but Thailand as a whole is is not as developed as Bangkok. Thailand itself is behind S.Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
Not too impressive for a country that never seen war like Cambodia, Vietnam, or Loas.
For a country of 66 million population, Thailand's GDP is less than half of that of Texas, a population of 32 million.
Vietnam will surpass Thailand soon economically. Whether you like it or not Vietnam's economy, according to analysts, is one of the few countries that everyone is keeping an eye on.
Cambodia's greatest obstacle to faster development is corruption. If the Cambodian gov't ever able to control corruption, you will see investment pouring in.
9:23AM,
I wonder what Thailand's GDP would be if you don't include the sex industry.
Siems love to sell their sons and daughters to foreigners(farangs).
Other countries like S. Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia seems to be able to developed nicely without getting into the sex business, but NOT Thailand.
Our Siem people just love trashy business. We sell everything, including our bodies and still lack behind.
Highest lady boy per cap peta in the world is Thailand!
1:55am and 6:30am,
I see you are a Siem dog broke off the leash again.
Go bark in Bangkok.
Hi 11:55am,
Hate and Anger will drive you crazy!
It's unfortunate that people like you exist on this planet.
When can the world move forward without you?
it's about time for cambodia to catch up with the rest of asia and the world for that matter! cambodia should modernized our infrastructure, way of life, etc!god bless cambodia.
to all khmer...don't let the negative post comment bother you. Let's us focus on improving relationship with others khmer abroad and inside. United we stand, even HS is our prime minister. The negative person will always encourage us for division. Becuase it will weaken us. Don't fall into this trap please.
8:37pm! first ask ah Kwack to stop doing land crabing fromm the poor and give land to the fucking Vietname!!!!
How can motherfucker jail the peasants at the border of Vietname who try to defend the country and their land???
Can you count ah Kwack Hun Xen motherfucker as your Cambodian brother??????? You must be fuckup my friend!
May lightning strike the evils!
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