PHNOM PENH, Mar 14 (NNN-AKP) – The Cambodian government had a total public debt stock of 9.99 billion U.S. dollars, as of 2022, according to the Cambodia Public Debt Statistical Bulletin, published by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, yesterday.
The public debt had its 68 percent from bilateral developing partners (DPs) and 32 percent from multilateral DPs, the statement said.
“The composition of the public debt stock comprised of foreign currencies, of which 44 percent is USD, 21 percent is SDR (Special Drawing Rights), 12 percent is CNY, 11 percent is JPY, seven percent is EUR and the rest is local and other currencies,” it said.
In 2022, the government signed new concessional loans with DPs for a total amount of 2.13 billion U.S. dollars, which accounted for 99.9 percent of the celling permitted by law, it said.
“Overall, all the loans are highly concessional with an average grant element of around 45 percent,” the bulletin said. “The purpose of these newly signed loans is to finance public investment projects in the priority sectors, that support long-term sustainable economic growth and increase economic productivity.”
“The preliminary result of the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) shows that, despite being impacted by the widespread of COVID-19 and other external factors, Cambodia’s public debt situation continues to remain ‘sustainable’ and ‘low risk’ of debt distress,” the bulletin said.– NNN-AKP
