Cambodia ranks 1st in Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025

Cambodia ranks 1st in Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025

The Greenfield FDI Performance Index tracks and ranks countries based on their ability to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) relative to the size of their economies.

In a milestone achievement, the Kingdom has been ranked first in Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025 in the Asia-Pacific region and ninth globally.

The Greenfield FDI Performance Index is published by fDi Intelligence, a specialist division of the Financial Times. The index tracks and ranks countries based on their ability to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) relative to the size of their economies. Specifically, it focuses on Greenfield FDI, which refers to new investments in physical capital or infrastructure.

The Southeast Asian nation recorded a record year for inbound FDI projects in 2024, with investments in areas such as business services, transportation, consumer products, automotive and textiles, fDi Intelligence said in its statement last week. “Growth in FDI projects — up by 13.5 per cent from a year earlier — outstripped that of nominal GDP (plus 9.3 per cent),” the statement emphasised.

“Cambodia was outlined to be one of the most impacted countries after President Donald Trump’s initial ‘liberation day’ tariffs were imposed. It was earmarked for a 49 per cent tariff, a level that came down to 36 per cent on August 1.

“The country is heavily reliant on exports, particularly in the garment sector, which creates direct jobs for about 925,000 workers, 75.5 per cent of whom are females,” the statement pointed out, highlighting figures from Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association (TAFTAC).

fDi Intelligence also stressed the Chinese prominence in the Kingdom’s FDI landscape. “China is Cambodia’s key FDI partner and its largest trade partner too. Before Trump’s return to the White House, the country had attracted increasing levels of Chinese investment and imports as it consolidated its role as a backdoor to the US market for Chinese goods otherwise facing tariffs.

“In 2024, China accounted for more than one-third of all FDI projects into Cambodia, with a particular focus on manufacturing operations, with all but one project by Chinese investors in manufacturing.

“Among others, they include a project by Chinese electric vehicle powerhouse BYD, with the Cambodian government announcing the company’s plans for a local assembly plan in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, 215 km south-west of capital city Phnom Penh, in July 2024.”

fDi Intelligence said Chinese investors were also behind the rise through the ranks of the Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025 of Kyrgyzstan, the central Asian republic of seven million people, which ranked second in the index’s Asian section.

“About half (seven) of the 15 Greenfield FDI projects the country racked up in 2024 came from investors from its eastern neighbour. In particular, state-owned coal company Kyrgyzkomur announced it will jointly develop the Kök-Janggak coal deposit with Chinese conglomerate Huaxin.

“The agreement was announced as part of a flurry of memoranda of understanding signed in early 2024 during a Kyrgyzstan–China business investment forum. Overall, the forum witnessed the signing of seven MoUs worth $1.15 billion of investment in the Kyrgyz energy and industrial sectors.”

Cambodia attracted fixed-asset investment of $5.8 billion in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 77 percent, according to the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). The country approved 373 investment projects during the January-June period this year, up 96 percent from 190 projects in the same period last year, creating about 255,000 jobs, the CDC said.

Major projects included an auto garage equipment factory, a car assembly plant, car tire plants, an electric three-wheeler assembly plant, solar power plants, a solar panel plant, wind power stations, a hydroelectric plant, metal and aluminum processing plants, a dry port, and tourism resorts.

China was still the top foreign investor in the kingdom, the CDC pointed out, adding that other key foreign investors were from Singapore, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, the United States, Samoa, and South Korea.

Penn Sovicheat, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce, said the RECP Agreement and Cambodia’s bilateral free trade agreements with China, South Korea, and the UAE are major factors in attracting the FDIs.

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