Siem Reap: A senior official of the Ministry of Planning claims that a large part of the rising poverty rate of the Cambodian people is caused by the global Covid-19 crisis, while this rate increased by more than 4% from 2014 to 2019 and 2020.

During the opening ceremony of the seminar on promoting the implementation of the National Population Policy 2016-2030 at Siem Reap Provincial Hall on 19 April 2022, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Planning, Mr. Toun Thavorak said that according to the socio-economic investigation data for 2019 and 2020 rate poverty continues to rise to 17.8 percent, largely due to the global Covid-19 epidemic.

He also reminded that Cambodia's poverty rate has dropped significantly from 47 percent in 2007 to 22.9 percent in 2009 and continued to fall to 13.5 percent in 2014 and pushed Cambodia to become a low middle income country in 2015.

But since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2019, Cambodia's economy has begun to decline, leading to a resurgence of poverty.

However, he stressed that the Royal Government of Cambodia has promoted the implementation of the National Population Policy 2016-2030 within the framework of sustainable development goals to be more effective.