PHNOM PENH, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's much-touted stock exchange market has been delayed indefinitely due to the worsening global economic slowdown, said English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post on Monday.

    Its launch was originally scheduled for September, with the South Korean Exchange providing funds and technical support.

    As Cambodia's economy, one of the region's most vibrant, slowed to single-digit growth last year, the exchange's future was put in doubt, said the paper.

    "Cambodia has been affected by the global financial crisis, especially in terms of real estate and garment exports. Therefore, the plan to open our own stock market has been postponed, and no specific schedule is set for it," Mey Vann, director of the Department of Finance Industry of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, was quoted as saying.

    "We can't push to form the stock market, as our economy doesn't have a solid foundation yet due to the impact of the crisis," he said.

    "Now we will focus our efforts on establishing our economy," he added.

    Cambodia enjoyed consistent double-digit economic growth rate from 2005 to 2007, which fueled the government's ambition to upgrade its financial and capital market, and the establishment of a stock exchange market was just one of its many plans in this regard.