According to the latest report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the Cambodian Government approved 222 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the first eight months of 2019 with a total investment of US$6 billion, an increase of 81 projects and US$4.12 billion compared to the same period last year.
China is the largest foreign investor in Cambodia with a total investment of US$7.8 billion in the first eight months of the year, accounting for 35% of total FDI investment in Cambodia. It was followed by Japan (accounting for 7.8% of the total FDI investment), Vietnam (2.9%), Singapore (1.8%), the Republic of Korea (1.7%), Malaysia (1.36%) and Thailand (0.9%).
CDC Deputy Secretary General Chea Vuthy said that the investment inflows have tended to increase sharply in the areas of industry, manufacturing and tourism which rose 94% compared to the same period in 2018 in addition to the advancement in investment in special economic zones.
Cambodia has approved 831 FDI projects since 2016 with a total investment capital of US$22.5 billion. Investment in tourism makes up 47% of the total FDI capital while investment in infrastructure, industry and agriculture accounts for 24%, 23% and 6% of the total FDI capital respectively.
Chea Vuthy said that investment has made significant contribution to Cambodia to maintain its economic growth rate of 7% and create approximately 150,000 jobs each year.
