(Reuters) -China has not approved any new loans to Cambodia in the first nine months of 2024, Cambodian finance ministry data shows, even though it has been Cambodia’s top creditor country in recent years.
The collapse in funding may signal China’s more cautious approach to investment in Cambodia after a series of so-far unsuccessful infrastructure projects in the Southeast Asian country.
China accounts for more than a third of the country’s $11.6 billion in outstanding debt, Cambodian government data shows.
But no new loan was signed from January to September this year after lending of nearly $212 million over the same period last year, the data shows.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a question about loans but said on Dec. 11 that “China and Cambodia are iron-clad friends. We will continue to strengthen cooperation with Cambodia and support Cambodia in promoting development and improving people’s livelihood.”
Meas Soksensan, a spokesman for Cambodia’s finance ministry, did not reply to a request for comment for this article.
However, in a Facebook post on Sunday to counter what he said was information he had seen on social media about China-Cambodia relations, he wrote: “I find laughable the information that was shared that China stops providing loans.”
“We have a lot of projects that the countries will review and will sign agreements of financing, including grants and other concessional loans,” he said.
He did not comment about data published by the finance ministry about lending so far this year.
Overall lending to Cambodia was not affected by China’s lack of funding, as other creditors have stepped in with loans totalling around $1 billion, almost as much as was lent to the country in the first nine months of last year.
The World Bank has signed loans worth $564 million so far this year, making it Cambodia’s top lender for 2024, followed by Japan with $262 million.
Last year, China was Cambodia’ top lender among partner countries, providing more than $300 million for the full year. Only the World Bank did more last year, with signed loans worth half a billion dollars, according to official data.
In 2022, Beijing topped the overall list of lenders with $567 million in signed loans, followed by Japan and the Asian Development Bank.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Tom Hogue, Nicholas Yong and Neil Fullick)
