Cambodia's macroeconomic policies in june 2010 after financial crisis

Cambodia hosts seminar on role of macroeconomic policies after global financial crisis

Cambodia in cooperation with UNESCAP on Tuesday conducted a seminar on “Response to Global Financial Crisis in Asia-Pacific and role of macroeconomic policies to ensure about financial development of country and economic growth and implementation in millennium development.
“The workshop is jointly organized by UNESCAP and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to provide an opportunity for Cambodia’s high level officials, policy makers and experts to conduct a focused discussion of concrete policy options to address challenges facing the country’s economy,” the statement from Ministry of economy said, adding that UNESCAP has invited experts and high level officials from key partner countries of Cambodia such as China, Thailand, Viet Nam, Republic of Korea, and India as well as experts from ESCAP, ADB, UNDP, IMF and the World Bank.
The seminar will be strengthening the response to the global financial crisis in Asia-Pacific: the role of macroeconomic policies”. “Over the next three days, we will examine aspects of monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies that can be streamlined to help the country prepare for the future,” Douglas Broderick, UN resident coordinator. He added that the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, ESCAP, is great for hosting this timely event.
He continued that investment in social safety nets now will have positive effects for Cambodia long after Cambodia’s economy has fully recovered. It is the UN’s view that a strong social safety net system should complement other measures taken to strengthen the country’s economy, such as a trade diversification strategy, as well as effective monetary, fiscal and macroeconomic policies.
“the system could include conditional cash transfers, labor-based public works schemes and food for work, civil service pensions and health insurance. Already, informal social safety net programmes are being implemented by Government, development partners and civil society. But there are limited formal programmes in place,” he noted.
“The economic downturn threatened Cambodia’s progress in reducing poverty, which is the first of the Millennium Development Goals. We remain concerned about the effects that the current global economic crisis will have on achieving these Goals. As Cambodia regains its economic momentum, we need to work harder than ever to ensure these goals are reached,” he added.
He said that over the past two years – as in many countries in the region and around the world – Cambodia has suffered significant job losses, particularly in the garment and construction sectors. We have also seen a reduction in household income for many homes. In this context, we should not only be concerned about the 30 percent of Cambodians who live in poverty – we must also consider those who live just above the poverty line. Poor and near poor households that suffered losses of income and savings as they struggled to get through the recent lean times will take time to rebuild and recover. ###