A newly released study by the Asian Development Bank found that Special Economic Zones in Cambodia have attracted significant levels of foreign investment into the country that would not have been presented otherwise. The investments have created around 68,000 jobs, with equal or better pay and better prospects than the alternatives that would otherwise have existed, raising the economic welfare of the workers concerned.
The study also found that SEZs have somehow contributed to the Governmentβs objective of industrial diversification.
The study highlighted the fact that the Government has left the establishment and management of the zones to private sector developers, avoiding the large and sometimes wasteful public sector set up costs associated with SEZ establishment in many other countries.