Cambodia Company & Beneficial Ownership Directory

Analysis

What this data actually tells you about Cambodia

Cambodia’s nominal GDP was approximately $49.8-51 billion in 2025, with GDP per capita in the range of roughly $2,760-2,870. The World Bank’s January 2026 Global Economic Prospects put real GDP growth at 4.8% for 2025, moderating to 4.3% in 2026 amid softer global trade and export uncertainty; the IMF’s November 21, 2025 Article IV Consultation used near-identical figures, 4.8% (2025) and 4.0% (2026), citing softening domestic demand, declining remittances, a tourism slowdown, and tariff-related pressure on export margins. By contrast, the Asian Development Bank cut its 2025 forecast from 6.1% to 4.9% and its 2026 forecast from 6.2% to 5.0%, citing the border conflict with Thailand and US tariff uncertainty. Inflation was projected by the National Bank of Cambodia at 2.6% for 2025, up from 0.8% in 2024. The economy remains heavily dollarized: the US dollar circulates alongside the Cambodian riel, and the central bank has pursued a long-running riel-isation policy, phasing out small-denomination USD notes since June 2020, mandating that at least 10% of bank loan portfolios be in riel, and rolling out the Bakong riel/dollar digital payment rail, to reduce dependency on the dollar; the riel strengthened to roughly KHR 4,010/USD by end-June 2025 before settling near KHR 4,025/USD by year-end. By broad sector, Cambodia’s economy in 2023, the latest full breakdown found, was roughly 17-25% agriculture, 33-41% industry, and 36-42% services depending on source and methodology, with the services sector now the largest employer of the workforce, 43% of employment in 2025, the first time services have overtaken agriculture as the top employing sector. Cambodia’s 2022 Economic Census recorded 753,670 economic establishments nationally, employing 2,980,569 people, with more than 750,000 classified as micro, small and medium enterprises contributing 63% of GDP and employing more than 70% of the non-agricultural workforce.

Cambodia’s economy remains highly export-oriented and garment-dependent. Apparel exports (garments, footwear and travel goods) reached roughly $15.5 billion in 2025, up 15.7% year-on-year, with apparel alone accounting for 37.9% of Cambodia’s total goods exports of $30.147 billion. China is Cambodia’s largest single trading partner by import value and a major export destination, while the United States remains the single largest final destination for garment exports. On the investment side, China dominates: Chinese investors committed $5.42 billion in 2025, or 54.25% of Cambodia’s total approved investment capital of $10 billion, with some other reporting citing China’s share of 2025 FDI inflows specifically at over 70%. Analysts have cautioned that Cambodia’s headline FDI numbers don’t add up to quality growth, noting concentration in a few regions and sectors and limited technology transfer. Regionally, the most consequential 2025 development was the Cambodia-Thailand border conflict: intense fighting broke out July 24-28, 2025 across seven border points, displacing over 172,000 people in the first wave and prompting Thailand to close all land border checkpoints, disrupting bilateral trade worth 174.5 billion baht in 2024. A ceasefire was brokered in Kuala Lumpur on July 28, 2025 by Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim with Cambodian PM Hun Manet and Thai Acting PM Phumtham Wechayachai, but tensions persisted into the border-closure period, with Thailand’s parliament being dissolved in December 2025 amid continued border strife. Separately, China’s Belt and Road-linked infrastructure push continues via the Funan Techo Canal, a roughly $1.16-1.7 billion, approximately 180km inland waterway project financed 49% by China Road and Bridge Corporation on a 40-50 year build-operate-transfer basis, agreement signed April 17, 2025 during Xi Jinping’s state visit, intended to link the Mekong to the coast through Kandal, Takeo and Kampot to Kep; as of late 2025/early 2026, construction progress was limited mainly to a section near the Mekong confluence in Kandal province, with a targeted 2028-2029 completion.

Cambodia’s labor force participation rate reached 71.6% in 2025, with more than 9.1 million people employed. Overall unemployment was low at roughly 3.6% of the 15+ population, but youth unemployment (ages 15-24) stood far higher at 9.8%, nearly three times the national rate, and 13.1% of youth were not in employment, education or training. More than three in four workers (76.7%) remain in informal employment with no sick leave, pension contributions, or written contract. On trade policy, after a volatile 2025 in which the Trump administration’s announced tariff on Cambodian goods moved from 49% (April 2025) to 36% (July) and finally settled at 19% (July 31, 2025), a rate Cambodia’s Deputy PM said averted collapse of the garment sector, Cambodia committed to zero-tariff access for over 11,000 US HS-code export lines as part of the reciprocal trade deal. Politically, Hun Manet, who succeeded his father Hun Sen as Prime Minister in August 2023, continued to consolidate CPP rule through 2025-2026; commentary has characterized his government as exhibiting authoritarian developmentalism, with increased arrests and legal harassment of opposition figures reported through 2025-2026. Separately, a major law-enforcement story with real economic consequences has been the crackdown on Cambodia-based online scam compounds: in October 2025 the US Treasury designated the Prince Group a transnational criminal organization and the DOJ indicted its chairman Chen Zhi for operating forced-labor scam compounds, seizing nearly $15 billion in bitcoin in what DOJ called its largest-ever forfeiture action; further US/UK sanctions followed in October 2025 and June 2026 against a wider network of individuals and entities. Chen Zhi was reportedly stripped of Cambodian citizenship and later arrested and extradited to China in January 2026. Americans alone were estimated to have lost at least $10 billion in 2024 to Southeast Asia-based scam operations, a 66% increase year-on-year.