Phnom Penh  - The Cambodian government said 130 garment factories have closed so far this year as the global economic crisis continues to depress demand for the kingdom's key export earner, local media reported Thursday.

The Labour Ministry said the closure rate of one factory every second day has cost more than 60,000 jobs so far in an industry that is one of the country's economic mainstays.

Ministry figures showed that 30,000 workers have lost their jobs this year following the permanent shuttering of 77 factories. The temporary closures of another 53 factories mean a further 30,000 workers are currently out of work.

Against that, 40 new factories opened this year creating almost 10,000 jobs.

A Labour Ministry official told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that those factories which had suspended operations would resume if and when they received new orders.

"Only purchase orders can help garment factories in Cambodia resume their production and face the effects of the global economic crisis," the official said.

Kaing Monika, business development manager at the Garment Manufacturers' Association of Cambodia (GMAC), an industry body, said the closures had made 2009 a particularly difficult period.

GMAC has almost 300 member factories producing garments locally.

"Only those factories which are supported by significant international buyers have survived and managed to continue producing through this hard time," he said.

Weak international demand for garments in key Western markets is one reason Cambodia's economy is expected to shrink this year. The International Monetary Fund last week became the latest multilateral body to predict that the kingdom's economy will shrink when it forecast a contraction of 2.75 per cent for 2009.

That was even more pessimistic than the Asian Development Bank's prediction released in September of a 1.5-per-cent contraction. (dpa)