Overview: Cambodia remains a desperately poor country whose economic recovery is held hostage to continued political unrest and factional hostilities. The country's immediate economic challenge is an acute financial crisis that is undermining monetary stability and preventing disbursement of foreign development assistance. Cambodia is still recovering from an abrupt shift in 1990 to free-market economic mechanisms and a cutoff in aid from former Soviet bloc countries; these changes have severely impacted on public sector revenues and performance. The country's infrastructure of roads, bridges, and power plants has been severely degraded, now having only 40-50% of prewar capacity. The economy remains essentially rural, with 90% of the population living in the countryside and dependent mainly on subsistence agriculture. Statistical data on the economy continue to be sparse and unreliable.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $2 billion (1991 est.)

National product real growth rate: NA%

National product per capita: $280 (1991 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 250-300% (1992 est.)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Budget: revenues $120 million; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (1992 est.)

External debt: $717 million (1990)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity: 35,000 kW capacity; 70 million kWh produced, 9 kWh per capita (1990)

Industries: rice milling, fishing, wood and wood products, rubber, cement, gem mining

Agriculture: mainly subsistence farming except for rubber plantations; main crops - rice, rubber, corn; food shortages - rice, meat, vegetables, dairy products, sugar, flour

Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $725 million; Western (non-US countries) (1970-89), $300 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $1.8 billion

Currency: 1 riel (CR)=100 sen

Exchange rates: riels (CR) per US$1 - 2,800 (September 1992), 500 (December 1991), 560 (1990), 159.00 (1988), 100.00 (1987)

Fiscal year: calendar year