PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s GDP per capita is forecast to hit 2,071 U.S. dollars in 2024, up from some 1,917 dollars in 2023, according to a report from the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Saturday.
Thanks to garment exports, tourism, construction, and agriculture, the kingdom’s economy is predicted to grow 6.6 percent next year, up from around 5.6 percent this year, the report said.
The Southeast Asian country has been classified as a lower middle-income economy since 2015.
Speaking at a get-together with thousands of garment factory workers in Phnom Penh on Saturday, Prime Minister Hun Manet said the country “targets an upper middle-income status by 2030 and a high-income status by 2050.”
Upper middle-income economies are defined by a GDP per capita between 4,466 dollars and 13,845 dollars, while high-income economies have a GDP per capita of 13,846 dollars or more, according to the World Bank’s classifications.
Meanwhile, Hun Manet said the country’s poverty rate had remarkably dropped from 33.8 percent to 17.8 percent over the 10-year period between 2009 and 2019, with almost 2 million Cambodians escaping poverty.
Cambodia has a population of approximately 17 million. People living below the poverty line are defined by an income of less than 10,951 riels or 2.7 dollars per day, according to the World Bank.