PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen said that in a free market economy like Cambodia’s, the state does not intervene in setting market prices, noting that such a practice is nothing more than outdated Communism.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for the National Institute of Business on the morning of 30 March 2023, the Prime Minister responded to criticism that the government does not set market prices saying that only communist countries allow the government such control.

"Some people accuse the CPP of being a communist party, while they themselves call for a communist economy," he said.

The Prime Minister added that even China and Vietnam, which are communist countries, employ free market policies, reiterating that government control of the market is a remnant of the communist past.