Cambodia Hit Hard By Inflation

champthong

sarNie Hatchling
Rice Exports Halted Amid Price Worries
By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 March 2008

The Ministry of Commerce will halt the export of rice for two months, following a price spike nearly nationwide that has left many Cambodians worried.

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh issued a statement late Wednesday declaring a halt to the export.

The ministry earlier in the day provided 200 tons of state-owned rice to sell to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Kampong Thom province, which have been hardest hit by high prices.

High-quality rice has climbed from 3,000 riel to 4,500 riel per kilogram in the capital. Poor-quality rice has gone from 1,800 riel to 2,500 riel per kilogram.

For Cambodians below the poverty line, 1 kilogram of rice per day is all they can afford, leaving them lacking in other food.

"A salary of only 400,000 riel per month is not enough for living, considering the price of rice is rising," said Phrum Phearun, a high school teacher in Phnom Penh. "I cannot teach well, because my mind sticks to a concern over the price of rice."

In Phnom Penh Wednesday, the Commerce Ministry sold 20 tons of rice directly to consumers at 1,800 riel per kilogram.

In a public speech Tuesday, Hun Sen sought to quell rumors of a rice shortage, which has led to a price increase. Hun Sen said at an opening ceremony for a pagoda in Kampong Thom province that the price hike was due to an increase in international demand.

The Philippines and Malaysia are considering importing rice from Cambodia, and Thailand and Vietnam already buy rice from Cambodia, he said.

The rising price of oil worldwide can affect the cost of rice, he added, blaming "saboteurs" for driving up the market price, as well.

The rising price has made farmers happy, but Kong Chandararoth, an economist and director of the Cambodian Institute for Development Studies, said the unusual price rise can lead to inflation and a decrease in investment.

This can disrupt the economic system, he warned.

http://www.voanews.com/khmer/080326-rice.cfm
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Cambodia Hit Hard By Inflation
By Rory Byrne
Phnom Penh
21 April 2008

As in other developing countries from Egypt to Haiti, soaring inflation has recently emerged as a threat to Cambodia's hard won social stability. While wages have remained low, the prices of rice and other staples have rocketed - pushing millions deeper into poverty. While the Cambodian government says it is doing its best to curb the worst effects of inflation, opposition politicians say it is not doing enough. Rory Byrne reports for VOA from Phnom Penh.

On the face of it, Cambodia's economy is doing well. Double-digit growth in recent years has created a resurgent middle class, eager to take advantage of new business opportunities.

Phnom Penh and other cities in Cambodia are undergoing a building boom and expensive new cars are everywhere. But while some are prospering, many of the country's poorest people are slipping deeper into poverty.

While the incomes of the poor have remained constant, the prices of food and other staples have risen dramatically.


A general view of a market in Phnom Penh on, 25 Mar 2008
Cambodia's annualized rate of food inflation hit 24 percent last month, the highest in almost a decade, and one of the highest in Southeast Asia.

Haggling in the market is fierce these days as the price of staple goods has fluctuated week by week. Prices for pork, chicken, beef, and prahok - a pungent fish paste that is the main source of protein for millions of poor Cambodians - have all jumped.

The prices of non food items - such as gasoline and cooking gas - have also increased, adding to the country's inflation problem.

But it is the high cost of rice that is causing the most concern, according to the World Food Program, which feeds almost a million poor Cambodians.

Thomas Keusters, the WFP's Country Representative in Cambodia, says the high cost of rice on the world market has led many growers to export their crop, driving up the domestic cost of the grain:

"There are not that many big exporters of rice, so obviously those who are producing rice in this country see a benefit of seeing the rice going out of the country," he said. "Secondly, in general I think there has been an increase in the cost of producing rice, so by definition, people are producing, or selling rice more expensively."

Keusters says that the World Food Program is in danger of running out of its remaining rice reserves in a matter of weeks:

"Because of the increasing cost of the food, and the insufficient support we have been receiving from the international and the national donor community, we are going to very much face a risk of stopping our operation within a matter of weeks," Keusters said.

That could have a devastating effect on Cambodia's rural poor, who make up about 80 percent of the population.

Many are poor rice farmers who only grow enough rice to feed themselves and their families for half the year

For the rest of the year they rely on handouts from the World Food Program, or they harvest wild plants and fruits from the forest which they sell to buy rice. High prices at the market mean that they cannot buy enough to feed their families.

Chanmom, 46, lives with her sick husband and three young children in a small village in Kompong Speu province north of Phnom Penh. She is the only breadwinner.

She says she sells fruit and bamboo to make a living and that is all she can do to stay alive. She says does not have any cows or rice fields, only an old house. She says it is very difficult to feed her family because the price of food and rice is increasing.

Inflation has become a highly politicized issue in Cambodia. Marchers in a recent demonstration organized by the main opposition party in Phnom Penh accused the government of not doing enough to curb soaring prices.

Sam Rainsey is the leader of the main opposition Sam Rainsey Party.

"We want the government to take appropriate measures to stop or to curb inflation," he said. And we want the government to increase salaries for civil servants, wages for workers."

The government says it is doing what it can. On the orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, rice exports were banned for two months, while tons of surplus rice were released onto the market at reduced prices.

A ban on pig imports was also lifted in a bid to lower pork prices.

While these measures have had some short-term success, economists expect that, as in the rest of the world, prices will continue to rise over the long term. And that - the World Food Program says - could have damaging long-term consequences:

"A lot of people who are now on the verge of surviving are going to face even more difficulties to make ends meet and really survive," he said. "This is condemning, possibly, a whole lot of generations because people will not go to school, people will not go into productive activities, because they will really be constrained by their search for food."

Most poor rice farmers in Cambodia are expected to run out of their remaining rice stocks by June, at which point they will have to buy rice at the market.

http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Standard_English/...lish_21007.html
 

Twilight

sarNie Egg
NOOO THIS IS TERRIBLE :eek:
THIS IS WRONG AND WACK, everyone in Cambodia relies on rice, and so do other people worldwide! What would happen to all the people if the prices keep boosting up? Man, more people should start protesting to lower the damn prices. The prices before was affordable and the rice sellers were making lots of money because everyone bought rice. But if they continue to higher the price, then everybody will stop buying it and the rice sellers won't make enough money anyways. So basically, there's no point in raising the prices if people are gonna stop buying the rice.
 

diana507

sarNie Juvenile
what is the deal with this? why are all the rice prices going up and they are sold out everywhere!!
 

Dal

***LOVE, LOVE YADECH***
Economy and gas prices is the biggest affect of the price on food. Sucky. I am glad I have a food storage system in my house. I added 200 pounds of rice this week to it. The Khmer store had a lot of rice, but the two nearest Costcos were out!
 

diana507

sarNie Juvenile
rice around here is sold out even though the price has doubled! its still gone everywhere, my parents had to drive to some asian store like an over 1hr away to buy some, hopefully they stock up!
 

summer4ever

sarNie Hatchling
Not only are those countries affected...but also US...every stores my parent went to buy rice...the prices went up...where it use to be $23 went to $40...even gas is almost $4....i don't know what is going to happen...not everyone make enough to buy food and also be able to pay bills....
 

summer4ever

sarNie Hatchling
Wow...gas is already $4.11....last time i check it was $3.65 ....i really need to check again....or else i won't be able to use the car anymore...
 

SARY

sarNie Egg
Wow, just a comment about the price of increase mentioned above. From 23 to 40, I think that is actually price gouging, because here in Canada it only went up $1-2 dollars. I would look into to that or report it to higher authority. That is just so wrong. The small percentage of the very rich & greedy and really destroying everyone's else's standard of living by putting too much importance on crude oil...
 

diana507

sarNie Juvenile
Wow, just a comment about the price of increase mentioned above. From 23 to 40, I think that is actually price gouging, because here in Canada it only went up $1-2 dollars. I would look into to that or report it to higher authority. That is just so wrong. The small percentage of the very rich & greedy and really destroying everyone's else's standard of living by putting too much importance on crude oil...
wow thats it?
in minnesota its $43, so it pretty much doubled
 

akinoyume

sarNie Hatchling
rice here is $30-50 per 50 lbs depending on the store.

last i heard is that that by 2015, cambodia will be the top rice exporting nation worldwide. qatar has a huge investment in this. so, hopefully, there will be enough rice for the ppl of cambodia as well.
 
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