06/04/2026
Our CEO Anthony Galliano was quoted in this article in the Khmer Times "Is Cambodia doing enough to hit 2050 high-income target?"
Anthony Galliano, Group CEO of Cambodian Investment Management Holdings (CIM) and a veteran watching the Cambodian economy closely for a long time, has a different take on the subject.
He said that in the past two years, Cambodia’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita has grown at a compounded rate of approximately eight percent. “To reach the goal of Upper-Middle-Income Country by 2030, I estimate a 10 percent growth rate in GNI is needed, and given the current economic environment, that aspirational target is likely to be delayed until 2031. The ambition to reach a High-Income Country is not a stretch goal by any means, provided that the most critical components of the Pentagonal Strategy and the Industrial Development Policy are successfully executed. In fact, and provided that, the government achieves its roadmap, earlier graduation is foreseeably possible,” he explained.
According to Anthony, countries that have successfully and rapidly moved from low to high income economies have achieved this by different paths. “There is the silver bullet whereby a country is blessed with natural resources, such as Qatar, Guyana, and UAE, and typically reinvests the proceeds into the economy. There is the transformative investment and policy approach, South Korea being a benchmark, whereby the country aggressively invests in human capital and education, supports the shift from light manufacturing to high-tech and high skilled manufacturing, implements policies to diversify exports, builds world-class infrastructure, and enacts vigorous market reforms.
“While in the past, Cambodia relied substantially on garment exports, tourism, construction, and agriculture, the government clearly is focusing on the big picture now, and is no longer beholden to an economic structure that is reliant on garments, short-term tourism, and low-value agriculture. A comprehensive transition towards electronics assembly and high-tech manufacturing is underway, as evidenced by a burgeoning auto sector. There is a shift from exporting raw commodities to domestic agro-processing, such as cashews, rubber, and rice, to keep more value within the country. Government reforms are improving transparency and reducing corruption to lower the cost of doing business and attracting higher-quality foreign investment,” he said.
In Anthony’s view, the pace of infrastructure development is nothing short of phenomenal, with new and modern airports, expressways, ports, and, in the future, the Funan Techo Canal. The government is investing in bridging the skills gap through STEM education and vocational training to create a competitive and highly skilled workforce.
Anthony struck a confident note, saying that the country is on the right trajectory to become a high-income country within the projected timeframe, given its visionary policies and pioneering leadership. “The world and particularly ASEAN is a competitive marketplace and Cambodia is transforming itself with solid and robust strategies for the decades to come,” he said.
Cambodia must accelerate economic liberalisation and sustain strong long-term growth if it hopes to achieve its ambition of becoming a high-income country by 2050, according to new insights from experts and organisations such as the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Cambodia.