Medical imports decline
THE supply of pharmaceutical products has outstripped demand, causing a decrease in the value of drug imports during the first half of 2011, experts say. An increase in the number of firms importing pharmaceutical products in 2010 led to this year’s drop, Medical Trust Company href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/medical-imports-decline/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080250792/Business/medical-imports-decline.html
Current accounts in control
Cambodia’s current accounts deficit has increased in recent years, but is not yet a cause for concern, according to experts. The Asian Development Bank’s July update showed Cambodia’s current accounts deficit stood at 11 percent of GDP in 2010, and statistics show the trade gap href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/current-accounts-in-control/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080450869/Business/current-accounts-in-control.html
Cambrew to pay overtime to beer girls on Monday
Cambrew yesterday paid the beer promoters who went on strike in late July to demand that the company abide by an Arbitration Council ruling earlier that month that said it owed the women three years of overtime for working on Sundays. The company, which is href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/cambrew-to-pay-overtime-to-beer-girls-on-monday/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Property Developers Seek Ministry Licenses
Several property developers ave approached the Ministry of Finance to ask for licenses after the ministry warned buyers last month not to purchase housing fro developers who are not licensed to sell their properties. The ministry’s warning, issued Aug 11, identified three local developers that href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/property-developers-seek-ministry-licenses/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Officials Move to Bring Unruly Garment Subcontractors in Line
Citing a government investigation that revealed factories colluding with unlicensed subcontractors to use unethical labor sources including prisoners, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh has asked the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia to urge adherence to labor law. Rehabilitation programs meant to teach vocational skills such href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/officials-move-to-bring-unruly-garment-subcontractors-in-line/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Shanghai firm leads the way
Shanghai Construction Group has announced it will complete US$700 million in projects in Cambodia over the next five years, highlighting China’s dominant and still-growing presence in the Kingdom. The company presently oversees nine bridge and road construction projects in the Kingdom, according to government relations officer href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/shanghai-firm-leads-the-way/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092051749/Business/shanghai-firm-lead-the-way.html
SMEs call for better loan rates
The Kingdom’s small and medium enterprises have called on commercial banks and micro-finance institutions to lower interest rates on loans, as insiders have said they hamper SMEs’ potential for growth. Many Cambodian SMEs are concerned that the high interest rates offered by banks reduce productivity, according href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/smes-call-for-better-loan-rates/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011092151765/Business/smes-call-for-better-loan-rates.html
CSX trading postponed again until next year
Trading on the Cambodia Securities Exchange will be delayed once again until the beginning of 2012, Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon said yesterday. He blamed an incomplete regulatory regime and the public’s lack of confidence in the stock market as reasons for the delay, href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/csx-trading-postponed-again-until-next-year/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
China’s dam plans don’t hold water with panelists
China’s dam-building ambitions and alleged lack of transparency were front and centre yesterday during a roundtable discussion on Mekong River development held in the capital. Representatives from the Chinese embassy defended their country’s record, claiming that China was “eager to participate” in regional cooperation mechanisms. “We aren’t href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/chinas-dam-plans-dont-hold-water-with-panelists/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
New UN flood numbers grim
The latest United Nations assessment shows that the damage from flooding is far worse than previously thought, according to a report received by the Post late yesterday. Drawing on data from three ministries as well as the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), the assessment raises href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/new-un-flood-numbers-grim/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
US signs over $65m in aid, but no sign of donor meeting
The government and the US Embassy yesterday signed off on half the nearly $65 million the US is giving Cambodia in aid this year, more than two months after Cambodia cancelled a major meeting with its foreign donors that was scheduled for November. Held roughly every href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/us-signs-over-65m-in-aid-but-no-sign-of-donor-meeting/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
S&P downgrades national sovereign debt rating
Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday lowered Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch to B due to the country’s continued inability to diversify its economy and increase government spending. The decision by Standard & Poor’s comes after the agency said in September that constraints href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/sp-downgrades-national-sovereign-debt-rating/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Japanese oil firm plans Cambodian operations
JAPAN Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation has started preliminary surveying as the sole operator in Cambodia’s Block 17 onshore oil field, a 6,500 square-kilometre area of hilly forest in Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear and Siem Reap provinces, according to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/japanese-oil-firm-plans-cambodian-operations/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Flood-affected poor ‘drowning in debt’
The curse of Cambodia’s 2011 floods continues for those most affected, as they fall deeper into debt from unsustainable cyclical debt practices, a consortium of international NGOs said yesterday. The consortium of Care, Oxfam, Pact and Catholic Relief Services released the results of their January survey href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/flood-affected-poor-drowning-in-debt/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Appeal Court Rehears case of $60 Million Embezzlement
The former deputy director general of Anco Groups and his wife yesterday defended themselves against convictions handed down by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for embezzling nearly $60 million dollars from the firm – owned by CPP Senator and tycoon Kok An – during the href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/appeal-court-rehears-case-of-60-million-embezzlement/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Outrage over water prices
More than 1,000 villagers in Prey Veng province’s Prey Veng town blocked traffic on national road 11 outside the office of the Cambodian People’s Party yesterday to demand the price of water be lowered from 1,800 riels per cubic metre to 1,200 riels. The protesters, who href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/outrage-over-water-prices/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012030654881/National-news/outrage-over-water-prices.html
Supreme Court Upholds Verdict in Divorce Case
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the verdict of the Appeal Court regarding the division of assets in a high-profile divorce case that has bounced back and forth between the courts for years. Yesterday’s ruling decreed that Nina Kanikar You, ex-wife of former Funcinpec Secretary of State href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/supreme-court-upholds-verdict-in-divorce-case/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Bank Backs Displaced Families’ Compensation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), one of the two major financiers of the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railways, yesterday rejected criticism that they were providing insufficient resettlement packages to residents displaced by the project. On Friday, the ADB released a cost study that showed that the compensation href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/bank-backs-displaced-families-compensation/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Information Minister Promotes Gov't Use of Social Media
Minister of Information Khieu Kanarith has encouraged all provincial and city information departments to set up and maintain their own homepages, websites and profiles on the Internet, including popular social networking sites such as Facebook, officials said yesterday. The minister, who posts frequent updates href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/information-minister-promotes-govt-use-of-social-media/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...
Phnom Penh Residents Asked To Reduce Electricity Usage
State-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), the main provider of electricity in the country, has appealed to residents of Phnom Penh to reduce electricity use due to a power shortage, an EdC official said yesterday. The company is only able to produce 70 percent of the city’s href='https://opendevelopmentcambodia.net/news/phnom-penh-residents-asked-to-reduce-electricity-usage/ ' class='cambodia-color'>...