After poll, confidence dips: study

Confidence in the Cambodian economy has plummeted roughly 50 per cent in the tense post-election period, according to a market research survey of foreign business leaders working in the country. The survey, conducted by Indochina Research and seen by the Post this week, found that 98 per cent of respondents expressed confidence when queried about a month before the national elections on July 28. But in a follow-up, weeks after the poll, the figure dropped to 47 per cent. … Indochina Research’s “Foreign Business Leader Survey”, started in 2011, targets professionals working in Cambodia as CEOs, general managers or members of a senior management team. Approximately 150 surveys are sent out by email, and the response has consistently been about 30 to 40 per cent. The post-election part, the first of its kind since the survey started, generated feedback from a smaller sample of 19 foreign business executives. Those surveyed work across the private sector, including consulting, banking, insurance, hospitality, travel, tourism and manufacturing. Participants were asked before and after the election to rate their confidence in the Cambodian economy in three different phases: the next six to 12 months, from two to three years, and three to five years. … The survey from Indochina Research, which works in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, also showed that businesses were more confident in the future of Cambodia’s economy in the pre-election query in June than they had been in previous years, with 98 per cent versus 80 per cent in 2012, and 82 per cent in 2011.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/after-poll-confidence-dips-study