Germany pledges $65.5m to Cambodia anti-poverty efforts

Germany has pledged 65.5 million dollars (58.6 million euros) to Cambodia for rural infrastructure, health and other social programmes, while noting that respect for human rights underscored development cooperation.

This is according to a statement issued by the German embassy in Phnom Penh on Friday.

The new commitments include a 30-million-euro concessional loan for rural infrastructure and 28.6 million euros in grants toward nutrition, public health and other development programmes.

Cambodia was the “fastest growing country” in East Asia in 2018, sustaining at least seven per cent real growth annually since 2011, the World Bank said.

While the nation’s official poverty rate continues to decline, about one in four Cambodians remain “vulnerable to falling back into poverty” when exposed to external shocks, according to the World Bank.

The majority of the poor live in rural areas.

READ ALSO: Some governors run states like fiefdoms, says Dogara

In February, the EU began a year-long process that could result in the suspension of Cambodia’s duty-free access to the European market over a failure to meet human rights standards.

The threat followed 2018 elections in which the long-ruling party of Prime Minister Hun Sen won all parliamentary seats on offer after the Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition party.

The party ban was part of an ongoing government crackdown against the opposition, civil society and independent media.

Norbert Barthle, Parliamentary State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Cambodia could avoid losing its trade preferences if political and civic spaces were opened.
Barthle added that the country could ensure that national law and practice were brought in line with international rights obligations. (NAN)