Cambodians Still Stuck In Grim Poverty Despite Recent Rapid Economic Growth
The Associated Press reports that "The vast majority of Cambodians continue to live in poverty and lack choices for their future despite their country's rapid economic growth... Widening inequalities in incomes, child malnourishment, children dropping out of school at an early age, high maternal mortality rates and rising land conflicts are among the hardships of the rural poor, according to the Cambodia Human Development Report 2007 [government report] released on Thursday.
At the same time, the Cambodian economy has been one of the fastest growing in Asia, expanding at 11.4 percent in each of the past three years. But "further beneath the surface of double-digit growth rates, potentially serious imbalances and challenges to recent achievements are emerging," said the report, whose research and publication was financed by the United Nations development agency, UNDP." [Associated Press/Factiva]
Dow Jones reports that "Other grim pictures include the fact that each year, some 30,000 Cambodian children die from preventable causes such as malaria, dengue fever and diarrhea, it said. It warned that the problems could spell "major setbacks" for Cambodian economic growth, which has so far been concentrated in urban areas. Some 35% of Cambodia's 14 million people live below the national poverty line of just KHR1,826($0.45) a day. Cambodia's recent economic growth has been fueled largely by the garment industry. Last year's garment exports were worth $2.6 billion, accounting for nearly 80% of total exports." [Dow Jones/Factiva]
Kyodo reports that the gap between the country's urban areas and the rural poor continues to grow, according to a report released Thursday. "Of the one-third of the country's population that lives below the poverty line, 90 percent live and work in rural areas. Most worrisome, the gap in living standard between the large numbers of rural poor and urban elites has continued to widen rapidly, as has the gap between the rural poor and a minority of rural rich," according to the report, Expanding Choices for Rural People," by Cambodia's Ministry's of Planning and the U.N. Development Program....U.N. Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Douglas Gardner noted...Poverty in rural areas currently stands at around 39 percent, compared with 5 percent in Phnom Penh,'' Gardner added." *
Xinhua adds that "The Cambodian government will flow more capital into the rural areas and the agricultural sector to build infrastructures, roads and irrigation systems in collaboration with private enterprises, so as to reduce poverty to its minimum level, said Prime Minister Hun Sen...The government is also trying to improve the transportation system to assist the farmers to access their products to the markets and make their living better, he said at a ceremony marking the International Day of Poverty Reduction, which also featured the launch of the Cambodian Human Development Report in 2007.
Lack of professional personnel and land resources are major obstacles to poverty reduction in Cambodia, so that the government has to guarantee the poor people's rights to land and persuade parents to send their children to school, he said."*