|
Cambodia
/ Economic Data
The gross
national product (GNP) per capita in Cambodia is US $ 1,266
per year. This figure has been arrived at by a new system
of measuring, used by international organizations like the
World Bank.
Using the
old method, the GNP of a country was initially calculated in the
national currency and the resulting figure converted into US Dollars
at exchange rates prevailing among banks.
But who in
the world wants Cambodian Riel?
The new system
of measuring works differently. Percapita GNP is not expressed
in currency, but in buying potential.
This means:
the accumulated percapita GNP in Cambodia equals a buying potential
sufficient for a certain amount of rice, meat, washing powder,
etc. The US dollar figure expresses what the same basket of goods
would cost in the US, or in worldwide average.
While average
percapita GNP in Cambodia is US $ 1,266, it is US $ 5,665 in Thailand;
in Vietnam it is lower than in Cambodia, US $ 1,263. In
Afghanistan it is even lower at US $ 760, and in Burma
it's a meagre US $ 676 per year barely more than half of the
Cambodian figure.
This does
not necessarily mean that the average Cambodian is economically
better off than the average Vietnamese. For in Cambodia, a substantial
part of percapita GNP is still spent for war material.
Today's Cambodians also start business at a lower level of percapita
property, and furthermore, a substantial part of accumulated GNP
is destroyed again and again by actions of war. The distribution
of income may also be less equal in Cambodia than in Vietnam.
Fact is,
the average Cambodian seems to be worse off than the average Vietnamese.
A relevant point of reference here average life expectancy
and medical provision rather than percapita GNP.
Percapita
GNP, however, is a reference point for the natural resources
of a country. Cambodia need not be a poor country, as shown by
percapita GNP created under strenuous conditions. Cambodia owns
large forests of the most precious woods and the most productive
gem mines of the world (except diamonds). Much of the country
is a fertile plain nurtured by one of the most powerful
rivers of Asia, the Mekong.
In fact,
Cambodia could be a rich country. Its preconditions are several
times better than those of Ethiopia, Turkey, Peru, Egypt, Afghanistan
or Iraq. Though, in the absence of sufficient political stability,
the economic growth potential cannot be realized.
Therefore,
percapita GNP in Cambodia, based on buying potential, amounts
to only US $ 1,266 per annum, while in Thailand it is US $ 5,665,
in the Philippines US $ 2,440 and in China US $ 2,413. In comparison:
percapita GNP, based on buying potential, is US $ 20,165 in Germany,
and $ 22,595 in the US.
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/cambodia/e-01land/ec-lan14.htm
|
