Economy of Cambodia in the late 1980s

Rice milling was very important to the Cambodian economy.

The economy of Cambodia in the late 1980s was dominated by subsistence agriculture as the industrial sector was still in its starting ages. Later in 1987 there were signs that reforms legalizing private enterprise were revitalizing the country's economy. Small industrial enterprises opened again, transportation and telecommunication systems were partially restored. As private market activities continued, the population of Phnom Penh grew from 50,000 in 1978to 700,000. Economic revitalization also occurred at Kampong Saom also formerly known as Sihanoukville, Cambodia's only seaport and its second largest city, which then continued its industrial and shipping activities.

The prospects for Cambodia's economic revitalization were poor in the late 1980s. The country's infrastructure was both weak and not stable. Factories and workshops, lacking electricity and supplies, operated only intermittently and at low capacity. The economy relied heavily, almost completely after 1980, on foreign aid from communist countries, particularly the Soviet Union and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam); Western nations, Japan, and China had terminated economic assistance to Cambodia in 1980 to protest the presence of Vietnamese troops in that country.

In the late 1980s, key economic indicators were missing or were difficult to restore, specifically for the Pol Pot period (1975-78).