Condo oversupply persists amid low FDI and foreign buyers
Total foreign direct investment (FDI) to the real estate sector peaked at $3.6 billion in the years preceding Covid-19, where half of the approved investments was backed by Chinese investors. In 2019 alone, FDI financing in the property and real estate development in Cambodia stood around ...
Sangeetha Amarthalingam
https://kiripost.com/stories/condo-oversupply-persists-amid-low-fdi-and-foreign-buyers
National Rail Project on Hold ‘Indefinitely’
Work on a $143 million donor project to renovate the country’s creaking railway system, which is already over budget and years behind schedule, is now indefinitely postponed due to a lack of funds, with more than 300 km of rail still to be laid, a ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-rail-project-on-hold-indefinitely-51323/
Protest ban firmly in place on Women’s Day
Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-ban-firmly-in-place-on-womens-day-53745/
Illegal wood exports to China tripled in 2013
Cambodia’s exports of protected rosewood and other high-value timber to China more than tripled last year, according to U.N. figures cited in a new report that blames lax law enforcement across the Mekong region and skyrocketing demand in China for pushing some species to the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-exports-to-china-tripled-in-2013-58593/
Conference looks at status of the Kingdom's small but growing insurance sector
While Cambodia’s insurance sector has made significant progress over the past few years, it is still relatively small compared to other countries in the region and faces several hurdles. That was the judgment of Bou Chanphirou, deputy director of the financial industry department in the ...
Job security low as unemployment drops
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) released the latest data from its EU-funded project Monitoring and Assessing Progress of Decent Work this week, showing that despite an improving environment, including low rates of official unemployment , 75 per cent of workers are in vulnerable jobs. This includes the self-employed or ‘own ...
Construction Sector Faces Chronic Labor Shortage
Cambodia’s construction sector is facing a massive labor shortage due to a recent boom in construction projects throughout the country and workers migrating en masse to Thailand in search of higher wages. In 2012, the construction sector expanded rapidly with the total value of approved projects ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/construction-sector-faces-chronic-labor-shortage-19742/
Report Says Quarter of Forests Have Been Cleared in 40 Years
Cambodia has lost almost a quarter of its forests in the past 40 years due to rapid development and China’s demand for timber, according to a new report released yesterday by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) on the Greater Mekong Region. Looking at five countries in ...
Skyscraper’s woes continue
The saga of the stalled $240 million Gold Tower 42 was revived last week when it emerged that a supplier for the project had accused the owner and builder of failing to pay out nearly $500,000 in fees, according to an injunction request obtained by ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013061866319/Business/skyscraper-s-woes-continue.html
Timing of stats questioned
For the first time in recent memory, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has released growth projections for the first half of the year, and the numbers are good. The ministry’s preliminary data claims that from January through June, economic growth stood at 7.6 per ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/timing-stats-questioned
Cambodian oil imports decrease by 2.2 per cent
Cambodia imported 1.31 billion tonnes of oil in the first 10 months of this year, a 2.2 per cent slide compared to 1.34 billion tonnes in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Industry experts said the drop did not ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodian-oil-imports-decrease-22-cent
Insurance claims through the roof
Partly triggered by recent flood damage and an increase in road accidents, claims filed with the six general insurance companies in Cambodia spiked more than 160 per cent in the nine months through to September compared with the same time last year, the latest data ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/insurance-claims-through-roof
Increased residential, office and retail demand fueling rise in construction imports
Cambodia spent more than $414 million on imported construction materials to meet increasing demand in the local construction and property sectors last year – a rise of 7 per cent compared to 2012. According to officials and industry insiders, the increased value of imports reflected steady ...
Poverty gains ‘precarious’
Cambodia’s poverty rate fell dramatically between 2004 and 2011 – from more than 50 per cent to roughly 20 – but those gains are so precarious that a slight economic shock could send millions plunging back below the poverty line, according to a World Bank ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/poverty-gains-%E2%80%98precarious%E2%80%99
Housing loans up in 2013, growth expected to continue in ’14
Last year across Cambodia’s cities, more and more people decided to take the plunge and invest in housing. This should be obvious to anyone who lived in Cambodia last year. The sounds of construction or renovation were more noticeable than before in cities across the Kingdom. Data ...
Sum Manet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/housing-loans-2013-growth-expected-continue-%E2%80%9914
Prosecutors Meet to Discuss Treatment of Incarcerated Minors
The judiciary has signed off on a new set of guidelines designed to regulate the work of prosecutors in many areas, including the rights of minors in the judicial system. Ouk Savuth, general director of the Court of Appeal, signed off on the guidelines on August ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prosecutors-meet-to-discuss-treatment-of-incarcerated-minors-41526/
Environmentalists Say Dam Project Could Be Disastrous
While fears have been raised over the imminent construction of the Don Sahong dam in Laos, environmentalists on Monday said Cambodia should not forget that it has a project of its own that would be equally as disastrous to the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands ...
Denise Hruby and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/environmentalists-say-dam-project-could-be-disastrous-44573/
Cambodia Garment Wages Set to Rise as H&M Pushes New Approach
Swedish clothing giant H&M recently announced a program to boost wages for garment workers in its sub-contractor factories around the world, including in Cambodia, where the company is a leading buyer. H&M’s announcement comes at the end of a turbulent year in the garment sector ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodian-garment-wages-set-rise-hm-pushes-new-approach/1803179.html
Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
Cambodia's special economic zones waiting for foreign investments
PHNOM PENH — Eight out of Cambodia’s 19 special economic zones (SEZ) are being operational across the country, while the rest are still waiting for both local and foreign investors, the data from Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed on Saturday. The statistics showed that ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2011-09/05/c_131100346.htm