PHNOM PENH: The newly appointed Council of Minister met on the morning of September 20 to approve a draft of the government’s National Strategy on Informal Economic Development 2023-2028. Cambodia’s informal economy, defined as businesses that are neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government, is the backbone of the national economy and over 90% of those employed in the nation work within it.

The draft National Strategy for Informal Economic Development 2023-2028 is organized into eight sections and has three annexes, which were approved by the Council of Ministers. The draft law is also stated in the Royal Government’s much publicized Pentagon Strategy and accounts for the added pressures that Covid-19 and other global challenges have put on workers. The government says it is working to improve the lives of the people to achieve sustainable development, environment, and crisis resilience.

The five-year strategy aims to enhance and protect the productivity and resilience of the informal economy, as well as to promote and accelerate participation in the informal economy in order to ensure the resilience, predictability and advancement of the national economy.

The draft focuses on five priorities including easier access into the informal system, reducing the burdens of registration compliance, providing social support to those who have entered the system, developing and strengthening skills and expanding outreach and awareness on participating in the informal economy.

The government says the new strategy is part of its broader “No Cambodian Left Behind” policy which aims to include everyone as the Kingdom works on achieving its Sustainable Development Goals. It hopes the strategy will be a catalyst to encourage cooperation between ministries, institutions, the private sector and NGO’s to create a sustainable and resilient economy.