Cambodian exports to the United States witnessed a sharp increase during the first three months of the year after the US renewed its Generalised System of Preferences in March. These exports were worth $903 million during the first quarter of the year, compared to $719 million during the same period in 2017 – an increase of more than 25.5 percent.
Bulk of these exports comprised travel goods, a category that has attracted a large number of investors after Cambodia was granted duty-free benefits for travel goods exports under the US’s GSP programme in 2016. Orders of garment and footwear products have remained stable.
On March, US President Donald Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which extended the country’s GSP programme, a scheme established in 1974 to promote economic growth in the developing world by allowing access to duty-free privileges for least developed countries.
The extension will expire in December 2020.
