[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1135, 366], "category": "Text", "text": "Education sector governance bodies are well established at national level. They include: the Joint Technical Working group (where the Minister of Education meets all partners and the NGO umbrella) on a quarterly basis, which acts also as the LEG of the GPE; the Technical Working Group (donor coordination) meeting every second month; and the NGO education partnership (umbrella) NEP, representing all the CSOs working in the system. Regarding PFM reforms, a complex but efficient management structure has been put in place under the chairmanship of the MEF Minister gathering all Directors General and Secretaries General in charge of finance in the line ministries meeting on quarterly basis, and the PFM Technical Working Group (TWG), co-chaired by the MEF Minister and a lead donor coordinator (currently European Union and ADB)."}, {"bbox": [96, 393, 1135, 684], "category": "Text", "text": "National reporting structures, i.e. EMIS, are operational, accessible and gender disaggregated. National Learning Assessments (supported also by the EU in the previous programme) are in place with reports becoming more analytical. Cambodia participated in regional and global learning assessments, including the full PISA by the OECD in 2022²⁵, under improved central capacity of the Education Quality Assurance Department (EQAD). Data collation structures are in place from school up to sub-national and national level. They feed into the Annual Education Congress Report (CR). This document, organized around the ESP Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMI), Core-breakthrough indicators and Outcome Indicators per sector, is presented to the whole sectors (provinces, DPs, NGO umbrella organisation...) and its results validated after three days of discussions. This document is signed by the Minister and submitted to the National Assembly. The quality of the statistical and monitoring systems is sufficient for the credibility of the policy"}, {"bbox": [96, 714, 1114, 795], "category": "Text", "text": "**In conclusion, the policy is sufficiently relevant and credible for budget support contract objectives to be largely achieved. Therefore the policy can be supported by the Commission with the proposed budget support contract.**"}, {"bbox": [85, 808, 375, 835], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 2.3.2 Macroeconomic Policy"}, {"bbox": [96, 849, 1135, 1063], "category": "Text", "text": "**Economic growth** continued to recover in 2022 (+5%) (IMF²⁶), supported by a surge in manufacturing exports (especially garment, footwear, travel goods, and bicycle manufacturing) and a partial recovery of the tourism sector with a marked increase of international arrivals (but still not at pre-COVID-19 levels). The Russian war on Ukraine has affected Cambodia through demand in Europe, which is a major market for manufactures second only to the US and through energy (including fuel, fertilizers, petro-chemicals and transport costs) and food prices shocks and lower investment from key partners. Inflation, which hit a record 7.8% in June 2022 following fuel and fertilizers price increase due to the war, decreased to 4.4% in September 2022, somewhat reducing the fear of a wider impact on aggregate demand."}, {"bbox": [96, 1062, 1135, 1298], "category": "Text", "text": "**The current account deficit has widened significantly (to an estimated 48% of GDP) due to a sharp deterioration of the trade balance and steep decline in foreign direct investments (FDI).** The external position is estimated to remain substantially weaker than the level implied by medium-term fundamentals and desirable policies, even after adjusting for the above mentioned temporary factors. Total FDI in Cambodia at the end of 2021 is estimated at USD 41 billion. China is the main investor in the country with 18 USD billion, (30.7% manufacturing sector, 13% electricity, 11% financial, 10.7% real state). The exchange rate has remained stable.²⁷ Gross international reserves, however, marginally declined to USD 18.4 billion (8-month import coverage) in August 2022, down from USD 20.2 billion in December 2021. Remittances and other private transfers continued to decline."}, {"bbox": [96, 1300, 1135, 1434], "category": "Text", "text": "Spending pressures and lower-than-expected tax revenue resulted in a fiscal deficit of just over 7.1% of GDP in 2021. The IMF foresees the deficit will narrow to 4.1% of GDP in 2022 with a strong bounce-back in revenues, widen moderately in 2023, and decrease further thereafter. Public debt-carrying capacity remains vulnerable to further shocks to exports and growth, but risks of external and overall debt distress remain low, as long as public debt remains limited in the future and the increase in private debt is not associated with an increase in contingent"}, {"bbox": [85, 1503, 1144, 1549], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁵ Cambodia had first participated in the PISA (D) in 2017 and then felt confident to undergo the full assessment in 2022, despite COVID."}, {"bbox": [85, 1552, 1144, 1598], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁶ MEF and WB both estimate +4.8% in 2022. This is in line with WB projections but slightly below previous MEF projections which were a bit more optimistic (+5.4%)."}, {"bbox": [85, 1598, 1144, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "²⁷ The exchange rate was 4,150 riel per U.S. dollar in October 2022, compared to 4,074 riel per U.S. dollar during the same period in 2021."}, {"bbox": [1027, 1681, 1144, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 11 of 34"}]