As of the end of the second quarter of this year, Cambodia’s public debt stood at US$11.27 billion, according to the Cambodia Public Debt Statistical Bulletin released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The bulletin reveals that as much as 47% of the public debt is in US dollars, while Special Drawing Rights (SDR) constitute 19%, Chinese yuan 11%, Japanese yen 11%, euro 7% and local/other currencies 5%.
The figure comprises 99% (US$11.16 billion) of external public debt and the remainder is domestic public debt. The bulletin revealed that 63% of the public debt is comprised of borrowings from bilateral development partners, while 37% is accounted for by multilateral development partners.
In the first half of this year, the Royal Government of Cambodia entered into new concessionary loan agreements with development partners for US$313 million, equivalent to SDR 237 million. This represents 14% of the ceiling permitted by law, as outlined in the report.
All loans are highly concessionary, with an average grant element of around 56 percent.
“The objective of these loans is to finance public investment projects in priority sectors that support long-term sustainable economic growth and the country’s economic productivity,” the source added.
The bulletin from the Ministry of Economy and Finance stated that Cambodia’s public debt situation remains sustainable and low-risk and that the government has paid debt services amounting to US$50 million for public external and domestic debt.
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