PHNOM PENH, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank (WB) said on Wednesday that Cambodia's economic growth was projected to slightly ease to 6.8 percent this year, from 7 percent last year, due to a slower rise in garment exports.
The Southeast Asian nation's economy is traditionally driven by garment exports, tourism, agriculture and construction.
In its updated East Asia and Pacific Economic report, the WB said garment product exports growth decelerated to 5.4 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2017, compared with 8.4 percent in 2016.
Tourist arrivals accelerated to 12.8 percent growth year-on-year during the first six months of 2017, compared with 5 percent in 2016, the report said, adding that construction also saw a slower growth this year.
"We saw weaker garment export, which represents 70 percent of the country's total export, so this is the factor that drags down the economic growth this year," Miguel Eduardo Sanchez Martin, a senior economist at the World Bank-Cambodia, said in a press conference in Phnom Penh.
According to the report, inflation was expected to moderate to 2.9 percent in 2017, down from 3.9 percent in 2016.
It said Cambodia's economy was predicted to expand at 6.9 percent in 2018, as inflation would stand at 3.2 percent.
As Cambodia is gearing up for general elections in July next year, the report said potential election-related uncertainty could be a downside risk to the growth.
