Cambodia

Country summary
Capital	Phnom Penh
Borders	Laos 541 km, Thailand 803 km, Vietnam 1,228 km
Government type	multiparty democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Population	14,494,293
Population growth	1.765% (2010 est.)
Life expectancy	62.1 years
Unemployment	3.5% (2007 est.)
Index of Economic Freedom	107
Corruption Perceptions Index	158
Doing Business ranking	145

Most Cambodians consider themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire that extended over much of Southeast Asia and reached its zenith between the 10th and 13th centuries. Attacks by the Thai and Cham (from present-day Vietnam) weakened the empire, ushering in a long period of decline. The king placed the country under French protection in 1863 and it became part of French Indochina in 1887. Following Japanese occupation in World War II, Cambodia gained full independence from France in 1953. In April 1975, after a five-year struggle, Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh and evacuated all cities and towns. At least 1.5 million Cambodians died from execution, forced hardships, or starvation during the Khmer Rouge regime under POL POT. A December 1978 Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge into the countryside, began a 10-year Vietnamese occupation, and touched off almost 13 years of civil war. The 1991 Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, which was not fully respected by the Khmer Rouge. UN-sponsored elections in 1993 helped restore some semblance of normalcy under a coalition government. Factional fighting in 1997 ended the first coalition government, but a second round of national elections in 1998 led to the formation of another coalition government and renewed political stability. The remaining elements of the Khmer Rouge surrendered in early 1999. Some of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are awaiting trial for crimes against humanity by a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal supported by international assistance. Elections in July 2003 were relatively peaceful, but it took one year of negotiations between contending political parties before a coalition government was formed. In October 2004, King Norodom SIHANOUK abdicated the throne and his son, Prince Norodom SIHAMONI, was selected to succeed him. Local elections were held in Cambodia in April 2007, with little of the pre-election violence that preceded prior elections. National elections in July 2008 were relatively peaceful.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Riel (ISO code: KHR)
• Central bank discount rate: NA% (31 December 2008)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 17% (31 December 2009)
• Stock of money (M1): $591.7 million (31 December 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $3.197 billion (31 December 2009)

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	3 517	3 654	3 980	4 284	4 658	5 334	6 286	7 268	8 630	10 354
Govt. debt (% of GDP)
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)				10.296	9.391	9.819	9.660	9.795
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)				9.381	9.291	8.180	7.591	8.587
Debt to revenue (years)

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

External links

• Cambodia on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Cambodia
• Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
• Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
• BBC country profile