IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/era/wpaper/dp-2023-08.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Investment Facilitation and Promotion in Cambodia: Impact of Provincial-level Characteristics on Multinational Activities

Author

Listed:
  • Shandre Mugan Thangavelu

    (Jeffrey Cheah Institute for Southeast Asia, Sunway University and Institute for International University, University of Adelaide)

  • Leng Soklong

    (Ministry of Economy and Finance, Cambodia)

  • Vutha Hing

    (Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide)

  • Ratha Kong

    (Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide)

Abstract

This paper examines the foreign direct investment policy of Cambodia in terms of investment promotion and facilitation. The study examines the key factors affecting the location of foreign firms (with more than 10% ownership) in Cambodia accounting for key provincial-level (18 provinces) characteristics, such as infrastructure (roads), population density (young population), special economic zones (SEZs), the number of establishments, poverty rate, rainfall, water supply, electricity supply, sharing of an international border, sharing a coastal area, and consumption per capita. The paper uses administrative data from the Council for Development of Cambodia, which manages foreign direct investment and the special economic zones in Cambodia. The study consists of nearly 500 foreign firms that have been approved to invest in Cambodia from 2017 to 2020. The results indicate a positive impact of road infrastructure (national and provincial roads) on foreign investment activities as it improves the movement of people and goods, reduces transaction costs, increases market access, and increases the service linkages within the domestic economy. At the provincial level, we observe that electricity supply, rainfall (water supply), land area, and a young working population have a positive impact on the investment decisions of foreign investors in the provinces of Cambodia. We also observe a negative impact of SEZs on foreign investment in Cambodia. The results indicate an urgent need for structural transformation of the Cambodian economy in terms of investment in soft and hard infrastructure and the development of the critical skills and human capital of the labour force. It is important to improve and upgrade the SEZs with key technologies and innovation to be more competitive in attracting foreign investment activities, which will be critical for increasing the competitiveness of Cambodian industries in global value chain activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Shandre Mugan Thangavelu & Leng Soklong & Vutha Hing & Ratha Kong, 2023. "Investment Facilitation and Promotion in Cambodia: Impact of Provincial-level Characteristics on Multinational Activities," Working Papers DP-2023-08, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
  • Handle: RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2023-08
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.eria.org/uploads/media/discussion-papers/FY23/Investment-Facilitation-and-Promotion-in-Cambodia-Impact-of-Provincial-level-Characteristics-on-Multinational-Activities..pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thangavelu, Shandre M. & Narjoko, Dionisius, 2014. "Human capital, FTAs and foreign direct investment flows into ASEAN," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 65-76.
    2. Wang, Jin, 2013. "The economic impact of Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Chinese municipalities," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 133-147.
    3. Mariya Brussevich, 2020. "Socio-Economic Spillovers from Special Economic Zones: Evidence from Cambodia," IMF Working Papers 2020/170, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ackah, Charles & Osei, Robert Darko & Owusu, Nana Y. A. & Acheampong, Vera, 2023. "Special Economic Zones and household welfare: New evidence from Ghana," KCG Working Papers 25, Kiel Centre for Globalization (KCG).
    2. Shandre Mugan Thangavelu, 2023. "Structural Changes and the Impact of FDI on Singapore's Manufacturing Activities," Working Papers DP-2023-06, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    3. Lanzhuang Xu & Hu Xue & Qianrong Wu, 2022. "The Impact of Development Zones on Economic Growth in Less Developed Regions: Evidence from Guangxi, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, September.
    4. Qiangmin, XI & Peng, JI, 2023. "Does the development zone promote population urbanization? Evidence from China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    5. Laiqun Jin & Xiuyan Liu & Sam Hak Kan Tang, 2021. "High-Technology Zones, Misallocation of Resources among Cities and Aggregate Productivity: Evidence from China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 21-11, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    6. Kopczewska Katarzyna, 2019. "Can public intervention improve local public sector economic performance? The analysis of Special Economic Zones in Poland," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 221-245, January.
    7. Picarelli, Nathalie, 2016. "Who really benefits from export processing zones? Evidence from Nicaraguan municipalities," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 318-332.
    8. Jin, Laiqun & Dai, Jiaying & Jiang, Weijie & Cao, Kairui, 2023. "Digital finance and misallocation of resources among firms: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    9. Maria O. Kakaulina & Dmitry R. Gorlov, 2022. "Assessment of the Impact of Tax Incentives on Investment Activity in Special Economic Zones of the Russian Federation," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 21(2), pages 282-324.
    10. Xin Nie & Jianxian Wu & Han Wang & Weijuan Li & Chengdao Huang & Lihua Li, 2022. "Contributing to carbon peak: Estimating the causal impact of eco‐industrial parks on low‐carbon development in China," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1578-1593, August.
    11. Hasan, Rana & Jiang, Yi & Rafols, Radine Michelle, 2021. "Place-based preferential tax policy and industrial development: Evidence from India’s program on industrially backward districts," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Cheng, Qi & Yang, Jun, 2024. "Is green place-based policy effective in mitigating pollution? Firm-level evidence from China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 530-547.
    13. Facchini, Giovanni & Liu, Maggie Y. & Mayda, Anna Maria & Zhou, Minghai, 2019. "China's “Great Migration”: The impact of the reduction in trade policy uncertainty," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 126-144.
    14. Shima’a Hanafy, 2014. "Determinants of FDI Location in Egypt: Empirical Analysis Using Governorate Panel Data," Working Papers 875, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2014.
    15. Defever, Fabrice & Reyes, José-Daniel & Riaño, Alejandro & Varela, Gonzalo, 2020. "All these worlds are yours, except india: The effectiveness of cash subsidies to export in nepal," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    16. Anthony Briant & Miren Lafourcade & Benoît Schmutz, 2015. "Can Tax Breaks Beat Geography? Lessons from the French Enterprise Zone Experience," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 88-124, May.
    17. Kahn, Matthew E. & Sun, Weizeng & Wu, Jianfeng & Zheng, Siqi, 2021. "Do political connections help or hinder urban economic growth? Evidence from 1,400 industrial parks in China," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    18. Li, Zhen & Wu, Baijun & Wang, Danyang & Tang, Maogang, 2022. "Government mandatory energy-biased technological progress and enterprises' environmental performance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment of cleaner production standards in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    19. Patrick Kline & Enrico Moretti, 2014. "People, Places, and Public Policy: Some Simple Welfare Economics of Local Economic Development Programs," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 6(1), pages 629-662, August.
    20. Rosa Canelli & Riccardo Realfonzo & Francesco Zezza, 2022. "An empirical Stock‐Flow Consistent regional model of Campania," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(1), pages 209-257, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cambodia; Investment Facilitation;

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:era:wpaper:dp-2023-08. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ranti Amelia The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Ranti Amelia to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eriadid.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.