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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,Using
the old method, GNP of a country was initially calculated
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.
More
on Cambodia:
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Geography