Cambodia's government has come under fire from World Bank president James Wolfenson. He said that the country's economic future depends upon its ability to stamp out corruption.

According to a report in the Financial Times:

Prime Minister Hun Sen, the long ruling strongman, re-affirmed that he intended to cut the excessive red tape, and improve the country's governance to make Cambodia an attractive investment destination.

But Mr Hun Sen, who has made similar sweeping declarations before, has so far taken little convincing action to tackle the deeply entrenched culture of official corruption by poorly paid civil servants, who have come to depend on shake-downs of business to supplement their meager official wages.

Cambodia's textile industry provides the country with $2bn in exports. Quotas on textiles were lifted in December 2004. As a result, over the coming years, Cambodia is likely to lose much of this trade to countries like China. Cambodia's ability to progress is held back by corruption, which discourages inward investment and makes it difficult for local entrepreneurship to thrive. Corruption increases prices, making the population worse off, and leads to worse public services.