Cambodia Policy Recommendation
Improving Cambodia’s Economy by Fighting Against Corruption
Executive Summary Cambodia’s economy has remained dependent and marginalized for a couple decades. It suffers from several main factors including poor education system, a lack of economic diversity and the widespread of corruption. This policy brief will be summarizing troubles result from corruption, and outlines key recommendations for relieving the extent of corruption. The policy options outlined below include a legislative approach—enacting anti-corruption Law, institutional approach—establishing commissions that fight against corruption, and public approach—opening up the degree of freedom of speech and transparency, let citizens supervising the government.
State of Issue: Cambodia’s widespread of corruption threatens not only the health and welfare of the country, but discourages foreign investment as well as financial aid from donors. As such, which policy option will be the optimal choice fighting against the corruption?
Background of the Problem: After decades of civil war and political unrest, corruption is widespread and has caused serious problems like loss of social resources, inefficiency in governance, and unjust judiciary. In accordance to TI’s corruption Perception Index (CPI), Cambodia scored 1.8 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean) in 2008, ranking 166 out of 180. This score suggest widespread and prevalent corruption (Transparency, 2008). Corruption has hindered the country so much that according to Freedom House (2006), corruption drains off an estimated 10 percent of Cambodia’s GDP. The World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators also shows that the index related to control of corruption also dropped from 15.6 in 2003 to 6.8 in 2008 (World Bank, 2012). As a result, the World Bank suspended USD 64 million in loans after severe abuses. To a country whose economy is highly dollarized and dependent on foreign investment, scaring off
Executive Summary Cambodia’s economy has remained dependent and marginalized for a couple decades. It suffers from several main factors including poor education system, a lack of economic diversity and the widespread of corruption. This policy brief will be summarizing troubles result from corruption, and outlines key recommendations for relieving the extent of corruption. The policy options outlined below include a legislative approach—enacting anti-corruption Law, institutional approach—establishing commissions that fight against corruption, and public approach—opening up the degree of freedom of speech and transparency, let citizens supervising the government.
State of Issue: Cambodia’s widespread of corruption threatens not only the health and welfare of the country, but discourages foreign investment as well as financial aid from donors. As such, which policy option will be the optimal choice fighting against the corruption?
Background of the Problem: After decades of civil war and political unrest, corruption is widespread and has caused serious problems like loss of social resources, inefficiency in governance, and unjust judiciary. In accordance to TI’s corruption Perception Index (CPI), Cambodia scored 1.8 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (highly clean) in 2008, ranking 166 out of 180. This score suggest widespread and prevalent corruption (Transparency, 2008). Corruption has hindered the country so much that according to Freedom House (2006), corruption drains off an estimated 10 percent of Cambodia’s GDP. The World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators also shows that the index related to control of corruption also dropped from 15.6 in 2003 to 6.8 in 2008 (World Bank, 2012). As a result, the World Bank suspended USD 64 million in loans after severe abuses. To a country whose economy is highly dollarized and dependent on foreign investment, scaring off