Social Protection System Review of Cambodia
In 2017, the Royal Government of Cambodia published a new Social Protection Policy Framework (SPPF), providing an ambitious vision for a social protection system in which a comprehensive set of policies and institutions operate in sync with each other to sustainably reduce poverty and vulnerability.The Social Protection System Review of Cambodia prompts and answers a series of questions that are crucial for the implementation ofthe framework : How will emerging trends affect the needs for social protection, now and into the future? To what extent are Cambodia’s social protection instruments able – or likely – to address current and future livelihood challenges? How does fiscal policy affect social protection objectives?
This review provides a contribution to the ongoing policy dialogue on social protection, sustainable growth and poverty reduction. It includes four chapters. Chapter 1 is a forward-looking assessment of Cambodia’s social protection needs. Chapter 2 maps the social protection sector and examines its adequacy. An investigation of the distributive impact of social protection and tax policy is undertaken in Chapter 3. The last chapter concludes with recommendations for policy strategies that could support the establishment of an inclusive social protection system in Cambodia, as envisaged by the SPPF.
Assessment and recommendations
OECD Development Centre
Since 2000, Cambodia has posted one of the strongest and most sustained periods of economic growth in the world. Between 2000 and 2015, annual growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) averaged 7.8%, raising GDP per capita to USD 1 225 and reducing poverty rates from over 60% to 13.5%. The national poverty gap, which indicates the severity of poverty, fell from 21.8% in 2004 to 2.2% in 2014.