As of September 2022, the total public debt of the Royal Government of Cambodia was $9.47 billion, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The Ministry also said that the public debt remained low-risk.
According to the recently released Cambodia Public Debt Statistical Bulletin by the ministry, 68 percent of the public debt is owed to bilateral Developing Partners (DPs) and 32 percent to multilateral DPs.
According to the report, during the first nine months of 2022, the government paid $404.5 million in debt service to DPs, of which $311,6 million was for bilateral DPs and $92.9 million was for multilateral DPs.
During the period between January and September of this year, the government inked new concessional loans with DPs totaling $1.21 billion, or 59 percent of the maximum allowed by law.
The newly-signed loan will be used to finance public investment projects in priority areas that support long-term economic growth and boost economic productivity, according to the ministry.
Despite the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak and other external circumstances, the public debt situation remained “sustainable” and “low-risk” of debt distress, according to a bulletin.
“All important debt measures in 2022 are substantially below the thresholds, with the principal debt indicator, the current value of public and publicly guaranteed external debt to GDP, at 24.9 percent compared to the threshold of 40 percent,” according to the same source.
