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24-Aug-2005
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"Nor does it seem that Seller's "code" is confined to mythology.  In the jungles of Kampuchea the temple complex of Angkor looks as it could have been purpose-built as a precessional metaphor.  It has, for example, five gates to each of which leads a road bridging the crocodile-infested moat that surrounds the whole site.  Each of these roads is bordered by a row of gigantic stone figures, 108 per avenue, 54 on each side (540 statues in all) and each row carries a huge Naga serpent.  Furthermore, as Santillana and von Dechend point out in Hamlet's Mill, the figures do not 'carry' the serpent but are shown to 'pull' it, which indicates that these 540 statues are 'churning the Milky Ocean'.  The whole of Angkor 'thus turns out to be a colossal model set up with true Hindu fantasy and incongruousness' to express the idea of precession." 
 -  pages 260-261

 "Fingerprints of the The Gods" by Graham Hancock. "The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization"

World Bank warning on investment climate

By Vong Sokheng

April 24, 2004 - Cambodia's growth prospects are at risk by the phasing out of garment quotas to the US and European Union in January 2005, a World Bank report warns.

The garment industry contributed $1.6 billion, or nearly 80 percent of all exports, in 2003.

The risk could be managed if the government takes decisive action to improve the investment climate, to boost competitiveness and yield the 6-to-7 percent growth rate targeted in the 2003-2005 National Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The East Asia and Pacific Regional Update, issued April 20, called on the Cambodian government to mitigate constraints and develop new opportunities in the rural business environment and cultivate new sources of growth including export diversification.

A concrete reform agenda was needed to restore momentum in the medium term and improve the quality of growth through greater poverty alleviation.

The report criticized the on-going political impasse, and lack of progress on the anti-corruption agenda, military demobilization, and civil service reform.

The World Bank has delayed signing a new long-term loan with Cambodia until a new government is formed.

The report noted the deadlock had prevented government revenues reaching more than 85 percent of the budget target and the revenue shortfall led to a reduction in spending such as health, education, agriculture and rural development.

Poverty remains a major concern, with figures showing that 43 percent of the population is below the poverty line. In 2005, an estimated 5.8 million Cambodians will be living on less than $1 a day and the World Bank country director Nisha Agrawal says the poverty reduction rate is not keeping pace with the population growth rate.

The growth in Cambodia's economy was lower than expected in 2003, which indicated 4.8 percent compared to 5.5 in 2002, and was harmed by the anti-Thai riots and SARS.

But the report was optimistic about economic prospects for 2004, with an expected recovery and growth expectations of 5.5 percent.

During a video conference from Washington (linking Manila, Bangkok and Cambodia) Homi Kharas, the World Bank's chief economist for the East Asia and Pacific region, said that to make progress in the next 10 years, "there are a number of things that could be done: to reduce the Cambodian cost of starting a new business, of moving goods through customs, trade facilitation, of the many access costs that appear to face Cambodia businesses when they try to invest. This would be a central plank of any growth strategy."

Businesses have long complained of having to pay bribes to operate in Cambodia.