Embracing the Digital Economy: Policy Considerations for Cambodia

Recognizing the global trend and understanding the potential of technology in promoting sustainable and inclusive growth, Cambodia set out a plan to be ready to transform into a digital economy by 2023. A fully functional digital economy fosters growth and productivity and offer gains for the society as a whole. But Cambodia currently lags behind its ASEAN neighbors in a number of digital fronts: technology infrastructure and adoption, digital ecosystem, human capital, and regulatory framework. Cambodia is categorized as one of the countries with the lowest stage of digital readiness in the Global Digital Readiness Index produced by Cisco and Gartner Research in 2018 and World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index 2016. At its current stage, Cambodia has considerable challenges to overcome before it can reap the benefits from digitalization. This paper analyzes Cambodia’s digital landscape to understand where it stands on its digital transformation pathway and proposes policy recommendations to fill the gaps and move faster toward a fully functional digital economy. Download a full report here.