Cambodia's Gross Domestic Products (GDP) hit US$10.5 billion in 2008, up from US$8.6 billion in 2007, but still the slowest growth rate in six years, national media said on Monday.

High inflation normally eats away real GDP growth as money loses its purchasing power, Hang Chuon Naron, secretary general of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, was quoted by English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily as saying.

The National Institute of Statistics (NIS) of the Planning Ministry is expected to release the final GDP growth rate in June, which is likely to be 7 percent, he said, adding that NIS will take into account the year-on-year inflation rate of 13.46 percent.

The forecast rate would be slightly higher than the World Bank's projection of 6.7 percent and the International Monetary Fund's 6.5 percent.

Cambodian GDP grew strongly in the first half of 2008, but took a hit in the final months of the year amid meltdown in the global economy and the local real estate market, combined with slowdown in garment exports and foreign tourist arrivals, according to the secretary general.

The Cambodian economy once consecutively enjoyed double-digit increase during the 2005-2007 period.