Daniel Gech looks at prices on a board at a Sokimex petrol station in Phnom Penh and winces. Four weeks into the war in the Middle East, the ripple effects of a faraway conflict are beginning to threaten the Cambodian teenager’s ability to earn and learn.
The 16-year-old uses his moped to travel between his home and school, and for his work in the evening.
It now costs him an extra US$2 a day to fill up his tank – or US$14 a week – and the price is rising, a significant surge in a country where the average wage is just over US$10 a day.
“The prices started to go up immediately after the war started,” he said, as he made a QR payment on Sunday morning for a litre of fuel that cost 5,400 Cambodian riel (US$1.34), 2,000 riel higher than before the war.
“It’s too much already, and it’s getting worse each day.”
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