[1] According to researchers Justin Corfield and Laura Summers, he is "one of the most experienced technocrats in the government [of Cambodia], [who] has succeeded in imposing greater budgetary controls on spending for years".

As a young engineer, he participated in the construction of the railroad tracks between Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh, and the Olympic Stadium, with Khmer architect Vann Molyvnann.

Until 1962, industry grew at an annual rate of 8 percent, but after 1964, the economy went into recession, because of the rise and violence and the decline in construction according caused by Sihanouk's refusal of American aid.

Chhon feld to Beijing with Prince Sihanouk after he was deposed in March 1970 to head the overseas Khmer Rouge resistance fighting against the US-backed Lon Nol regime, who had bombarded his university in Kampong Cham on April 28, 1970, and massacred many Vietnamese living in Cambodia.

[6] Keat Chhon accompanied then-King Norodom Sihanouk on an official visit as figurehead of Democratic Kampuchea to the United Nations secretary-general in October, 1975.

After spending some time on the Thai border at the Khmer Rouge outpost, Keat Chhon obtained refugee status in France in 1983, where he worked in a small engineering firm.

[12] In April 1995, Sam Rainsy filed a lawsuit against Finance Minister Keat Chhon seeking maximum damages allowed for defamation by UNTAC law in the Phnom Penh Municipal Court after Keat Chhon's public comments in Cambodia that Rainsy was attempting to get all foreign aid to the government suspended inferring that his replacement was guilty of corruption while finance minister.

[13] In January 1996, his relationship with Second Prime Minister Hun Sen came to a high point of tension as the latter accused him of being responsible of over-zealous import inspections by the government-contracted Swiss firm Societe Generale de Surveillance, which led in major loss of profits in the import-export sector, as some speculated Cham Prasidh was eyeing to replace him.

[15] On July 5, 1998, Keat Chhon, Minister for Economy and Finance, was in Paris attending the meeting of the Consultative Group for Cambodia and assuring the aid donors about the due process of the elections.

In that position, despite the impact of the 2008 financial crisis, he had to face the growing number of land disputes, in which his own sister was directly involved,[17] and the need to reduce government waste, through more transparency.

The economic boom also entailed a rise in prices, such as gas,[20] which the government tried to control, while Keat Chhon was accused in September 2011 of trying to shut down foreign NGOs interfering in Cambodian politics.