The south-east Asian nation comes ahead of Kyrgyzstan among the region’s FDI overachievers.

Cambodia ranks as the leading Asia-Pacific country in the Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025, and ninth overall. 

The south-east Asian nation recorded a record year for inbound FDI projects in 2024, with investments in areas such as business services, transportation, consumer products, automotive and textiles. 

Growth in FDI projects — up by 13.5 per cent from a year earlier — outstripped that of nominal GDP (+9.3 per cent). 

Cambodia was outlined to be one of the most impacted countries after President Donald Trump’s initial “liberation day” tariffs were imposed. It was earmarked for a 49 per cent tariff, a level that came down to 36 per cent on August 1.  

The country is heavily reliant on exports, particularly in the garment sector, which creates direct jobs for about 925,000 workers, 75.5 per cent of whom are females, according to figures from the country’s Textile, Apparel, Footwear & Travel Goods Association. 

Those jobs may now be at risk due to the decrease in cost competitiveness that tariffs bring. More than 43 per cent of the country’s exports went to the US in 2022, according to World Bank figures. 

China is Cambodia’s key FDI partner and its largest trade partner too. Before Trump’s return to the White House, the country had attracted increasing levels of Chinese investment and imports as it consolidated its role as a backdoor to the US market for Chinese goods otherwise facing tariffs. 

In 2024, China accounted for more than one-third of all FDI projects into Cambodia, with a particular focus on manufacturing operations, with all but one project by Chinese investors in manufacturing. Among others, they include a project by Chinese electric vehicle powerhouse BYD, with the Cambodian government announcing the company’s plans for a local assembly plan in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone, 215km south-west of capital city Phnom Penh, in July 2024. 

Chinese investors are also behind the rise through the ranks of the Greenfield FDI Performance Index 2025 of Kyrgyzstan, the central Asian republic of 7mn people, which ranked second in the index’s Asian section. About half (7) of the 15 greenfield FDI projects the country racked up in 2024 came from investors from its eastern neighbour. In particular, state-owned coal company Kyrgyzkomur announced it will jointly develop the Kök-Janggak coal deposit with Chinese conglomerate Huaxin. Total is expected to reach $621.2mn, according to estimates by greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets. 

The agreement was announced as part of a flurry of memoranda of understanding signed in early 2024 during an Kyrgyzstan–China business investment forum. 

Overall, the forum witnessed the signing of seven MoUs worth $1.15bn of investment in the Kyrgyz energy and industrial sectors.

fDi Markets