Cambodia sees a growth in consumerism
Though poverty is still rife in the countryside, an urban boom and robust growth fueled by garment manufacturing for brands such as Nike (NKE.N) and GAP (GPS.N) has given rise to a growing consumer class that earns triple the average income.
“People can afford to pay so now’s the time, we’re ready for big brands to come here… Materialism is in peoples’ hearts, what you wear, what you drive, represents what you are.”
With a fast-growing working population and falling dependency ratio, Cambodia has the demographics most favorable to rapid economic growth.
Young Cambodians now buy smartphones, flat-screen TVs and Japanese motorcycles. They tap banks for loans and credit cards and are fuelling the kind of capitalist culture the 1970s ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge killed 2 million people to prevent.
“The middle class is growing,” said Aeon spokesman Satoshi Otsuka. “The average age for Cambodians is early 20s and they’re fashion-conscious.”
Yet, “economic growth is only for the city,” argues a rice farmer Heang Samnang, waiting with her sick daughter at the city’s foreign-funded Kantha Bopha Hospital, which provides free treatment to millions of poor. “In rural areas, there’s no development, we just work on farms.”
Source: Reuters- Cambodia sees a growth in consumerism
