Monday, August 02, 2010
Hal Hill, Jayant Menon & Chan Sopha
East Asia Forum
The Jakarta Globe
The charming riverside capital of Phnom Penh, home to about 1.5 million inhabitants, has seen a lot in its turbulent history. But arguably nothing is on the scale of its first skyscraper, the 42-floor Gold Tower now nearing completion, not to mention the university and bank complexes mushrooming throughout this ancient city.
- Legal judgements are routinely for sale
- Ministers receive about $500 per month, but some seem to live quite lavishly
- The country’s tax effort (its tax revenue as a percentage of GDP) is a paltry 11 percent
This changing physical landscape reflects broader developments across the country, which has been experiencing rapid economic growth — the sixth fastest in the world in the decade to 2007 — for the first time in its history.
More than two million tourists now visit this country of 14 million, a 20-fold increase over the figure in the early 1990s.
The Cambodian people have better nutrition and access to education and health services than ever before.
Since the cessation of internal hostilities almost two decades ago, life expectancy has risen by almost a decade and infant mortality has fallen significantly.
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