Kingdom’s FDI outflow stood at $1.7B until last year

Kingdom’s FDI outflow stood at $1.7B until last year

Outward FDI is also a sign of increased competitiveness, as firms seek to expand their market share, access resources, and acquire new technologies in other countries.

Cambodia’s cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) outflow stood at over $1.7 billion until last year, the World Investment Report 2025, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), reveals.

UNCTAD is a permanent body of the United Nations that deals with trade, investment, and development issues.

Outward FDI often indicates that a country’s firms have reached a stage of development where they have excess capital and are looking for new growth opportunities abroad.

It is also a sign of increased competitiveness, as firms seek to expand their market share, access resources, and acquire new technologies in other countries.

The country’s outward FDI stock crossed $1 billion in 2019 and since then has added $742 million until the end of last year. The FDI outflow in 2020 stood at $127 million, and it dropped to $92 million in 2021.

The next year (2022) saw an increase in outward FDI to $150 million. Consistency has been maintained in the years 2023 and 2024, with outward FDI standing at $151 million and $172 million, respectively.

The report did not provide country-specific details with regard to the cumulative outflow of FDI from Cambodia. It is also unclear as to these FDIs were channelled into Greenfield or Brownfield investments.

According to the report, the ratio between the net outward FDI flow and the GDP stood at 3.7 percent in 2024, up from 3.4 percent in the year 2020.

The report also emphasises that there were no cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) last year, while 2023 saw five M&As. The year 2022 recorded a whopping 35 M&As involving Cambodian firms and entrepreneurs, the report said.

An Asian Development Bank (ADB) Economics Working Paper Series observes that annual outward FDI flows from developing countries have grown faster than those from developed countries over the past 15 years, and they have contributed well to the world economy during the recent economic difficulties in developed markets.

On the other side, the report said the Kingdom’s inward FDI crossed $52 billion last year, which is a remarkable increase from $37 billion recorded in 2020.

Cambodia attracted $5.8 billion in the first half of 2025 in inward FDI, 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 approximately 255,000 jobs, the CDC said.

Major projects included an auto garage equipment factory, a car assembly plant, car tyre 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 said, adding that other key foreign investors were from Singapore, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, the United States, Samoa, and South Korea.

Speaking to Khmer Times, Tom Goh, an economic analyst, said the increasing outward FDI reflects the country’s strengthening corporate sector and entrepreneurship culture.

“The outward FDI from Cambodia will definitely increase in the coming years with more corporates targeting expansion of operations beyond the borders.

“Generally, we view inward FDI as an important economic indicator, not giving enough attention to outward FDI. But I must say that outward FDI is also a strong economic indicator as it reveals much about the development and expansion of the private sector in any country.”

khmertimes