Cambodia's economy has proved both strong and resilient, driven by the solid performance of its garments and construction sectors. But sustaining this growth is becoming increasingly difficult amid growing competition and shrinking global trade, the World Bank said yesterday in its latest review of the Cambodian economy.

The Kingdom’s robust economic growth will continue, “propelled by exports, construction and government consumption”, it said in its Cambodia Economic Update for October 2016.
However, it also warned of downside risks, including potential uncertainty related to upcoming elections, fallout from an expected rise in US interest rates and slower global growth.

Better-than-expected performance during the first half of the year prompted a slight revision to growth forecasts issued in April. In its revised outlook, the World Bank projects that Cambodia will maintain its 7 percent GDP growth rate this year, compared to 6.9 percent in its previous estimate. It also nudged up its growth forecasts for 2017 and 2018 to 6.9 percent, from 6.8 percent...