PHNOM PENH, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The poverty rate in Cambodia has declined rapidly over the last 15 years and the trend will continue in coming years, Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Saturday.
"Peace, high economic growth, and right national development policies under the Rectangular Strategy have helped reduce poverty rate in Cambodia dramatically, from 53.2 percent in 2004 to around 10 percent now," he said in a statement marking the International Day of Peace.
The Cambodian prime minister said the Southeast Asian nation has achieved the economic growth of more than 7 percent per annum during the last two decades, mainly driven by garment export, tourism, construction and real estate, and agriculture.
He added that the kingdom with the population of approximately 16 million is expected to become an upper-middle income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050 from the current status of lower middle-income country.
In the World Bank's classification, lower middle-income economies are defined as those with a GNI (gross national income) per capita between 1,006 U.S. dollars and 3,955 U.S. dollars per year, upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between 3,956 U.S. dollars and 12,235 U.S. dollars, and high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of 12,236 U.S. dollars or more.
