Fuente : World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org

Global Lenders Mull Cambodia's Economic Future Post-Garment Quotas

/noticias.info/ The World Bank chief headed a meeting Thursday to consider how to ensure Cambodia's economic survival since the removal of protective quotas for its top earner, garments and textiles, reports The Associated Press.

The industry, which employs some 270,000 mainly female workers in Cambodia, has faced an uncertain future since an international trading system that gave preferential tariffs to garments from developing countries ended on Jan. 1, putting thousands of jobs at risk, officials said. At the dialogue, scheduled to run through Saturday, World Bank president James Wolfensohn met with former EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, and representatives from the International Labor Organization and activist group Global Fairness Initiative to discuss Cambodia's economic future.

Cambodia's garment sector grew from practically nothing in 1994 to about $1.9 billion in export earnings last year, largely boosted by quotas. The country has promoted its improving labor standards and participation in UN monitoring programs to hold the interest of foreign buyers tempted by cheaper goods from China or India. But Cambodia must not rely solely on its garment sector, especially as China is set to capture as much as 50 percent of the global market share, said Magdi Amin, senior private sector development specialist for the World Bank's East Asia and Pacific region. Garments accounted for more than 76 percent of Cambodia's exports in 2003, Amin said late Wednesday at the opening of the meeting in Phnom Penh, adding that Cambodia is one of only a handful of countries whose economy depends on a single commodity. "Why are we focusing on Cambodia? Because we don't think there are any countries that are as vulnerable to this question as Cambodia," he said.

Some 1.5 million Cambodians rely upon wages earned in the garment sector. The World Bank estimates that 45 percent of the country's 13 million people live on less than $1a day. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund blame corruption and slack application of the law for a reduction in investor confidence here. Amin said production costs are driven up by some of the highest bribes in the world. "Cambodia has very low productivity ... mostly to do with governance" issues, he said. Sok Siphana, a Commerce Ministry official, said the National Assembly was revising an anti-corruption law, but that the country should focus on ensuring good governance by building a strong legal framework.

Reuters meanwhile reports that US clothing retailer Gap will help pay for the training of 650 Cambodian garment factory foremen to improve labor relations in an industry which forms the backbone of the war-scarred southeast Asian nation's economy. The $80,000 year-long program, which is being run in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private enterprise arm of the World Bank, kicks off in March, Bank officials said on Wednesday. A similar scheme in Indonesia focusing on worker-supervisor relations and dispute resolution had led to less absenteeism, fewer strikes and better quality standards, meaning both managers and workers benefited, said Adam Sack of the IFC.

Agence France Presse further notes the World Bank said Wednesday Cambodia is closer to demobilizing 30,000 troops from the kingdom's bloated army after satisfying the global body's conditions to restart funding for the program. "As a result of the efforts made by the government to meet the conditions, the World Bank has agreed to extend the deadline (for submitting reports) to the middle of May 2005," the bank said in a statement. The 42-million-dollar program, which involved giving packages of cash, basic household goods and items such as motorcycles or sewing machines to demobilized soldiers, was effectively suspended in early 2003 pending a bank investigation. That resulted in three conditions being placed on the Cambodian government before funding would be restarted, and two have now been met, the bank said. The government in January repaid $2.8 million related to a misprocured contract for motorcycles and then submitted necessary financial reports, it said. "The government has taken significant steps towards resolving these issues and we are confident that the revised deadline can be met," country director Ian Porter said.

Finally, Agence France Presse writes in a separate piece that Cambodia's former forestry monitor Global Witness on Thursday claimed the World Bank was bolstering illegal logging in the kingdom during a visit here by its president James Wolfensohn. A three-year moratorium on log transportation in Cambodia was lifted in December by the international donor community at the persuasion of the bank, London-based Global Witness said. During a visit to Cambodia, Wolfensohn is to meet with King Norodom Sihamoni, Hun Sen, civil society groups and private sector representatives. notas_de_prensa_archivo