THE Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) approved projects worth a total $3.5 billion in the first half of this year – a 14 per cent increase compared to the same period last year, a statement released on Saturday said.

A total of 106 investment projects were approved by the CDC, 97 of which were new projects while the remaining nine were expansions of existing ones. The projects have the potential to create over 100,000 jobs it said.

Broken down by sector, the figures showed that investment in the agriculture industry was up 77 per cent, followed by the industry and manufacturing sector whose investment grew by 22 per cent.

Tan Monivann, vice president of Mong Reththy Group, one of the country’s leading agriculture companies, said Sunday that with the help of the government’s Industrial Development Policy 2015-2025, the sector was expanding.

“The policy aims to boost local and foreign investments by reducing import and export taxes and the price of electricity,” he said, adding that the growth in raw agriculture materials from the Kingdom will benefit Cambodia’s rice, rubber, pepper, corn and cassava exports.

Federation of Associations for Small and Medium Enterprises of Cambodia (Fasmec) operations manager Ly Visal said the Kingdom’s low labour costs and duty-free status in the EU are the main factors that are boosting investment.

He was also optimistic that global trade disputes, especially the one going on between the US and China, would be beneficial for Cambodia’s exports.

He also expressed confidence that the EU will renew the Kingdom’s status in the Everything But Arms (EBA) deal that gives Cambodian goods duty-free status.