Economic growth in the East Asia and Pacific region – covering 14 countries, including Thailand – may slow by a full percentage point to 7.2 per cent this year, before recovering to 7.6 per cent next year, according to a World Bank report Excluding China, the ...

Minor Hotel Group Ltd (MHG), a wholly owned subsidiary of Thailand-listed Minor International Public Company Limited (MINT), has acquired majority ownership of Siem Reap-based Sothea Boutique Resort to strengthen MINT’s presence in Southeast Asia. After the $6.4 million deal, the Sothea Resort will be rebranded ...

Budget business hotel group Toyoko Inn hope to draw East Asian businesspeople and travellers to Phnom Penh The Toyoko Inn, which is a joint venture between the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) and a Japanese budget, business hotel chain, is slated to open in May 2015. ...

Cambodia’s small economy leaves it especially vulnerable to devastation in the face of large-scale natural disasters, United Nations agencies and Cambodian officials warned last week. “The relative size of an economy adds to the vulnerability as seen particularly in the case of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic ...

CAVFOOD, a joint venture between Cambodian and Vietnamese companies, launched the first phase of its US$8 million rice mill in Phnom Penh on Friday. The venture is an investment by Cambodian state-owned rice exporter Green Trade and Vietnam’s VNA Food 2 and Bank for Investment and ...

The Advanced Bank of Asia (ABA) last week loaned PRASAC Microfinance Institution US$2 million to support the rapid growth of the microfinance loan industry. The domestic loan was chosen to “diversify our funding sources” because of a large reliance on overseas capital which moves many of the jobs created ...

More than half of Cambodians living in rural areas still do not have access to treated water, about 200 people heard yesterday at a forum at the Phnom Penh Hotel. The event was sponsored by WaterSHED, an NGO funded by USAID’s Regional Development Mission-Asia and the Stone Family Foundation. According ...

As Asian and European leaders gather for high level meetings this month in Cambodia and Laos, the luxury living quarters and extensive security arrangements made for their arrivals have come at considerable human and environmental expense. Government authorities went on a building spree ahead of this ...

Efforts to integrate of Southeast Asia’s economies are beginning to bear fruit, experts say, although there is some way to go before the goal of turning the region into a single market and production base can be reached. ...

ABA Bank has been awarded “Cambodia Retail Bank of the Year” award by this year’s Asia Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards. With 150 bankers from across Asia on hand to congratulate the winners in Singapore, ABA Bank Deputy Chief Executive Officer Askhat Azhikhanov said ...

Job recruitment agencies that send workers overseas often deceive young women through misleading job advertisements by using brokers that have “a position of authority” within the community, according to a new report by the Asia Foundation. According to the report, agencies also inflate migration costs that ...

Tokyo: The International Monetary Fund has upgraded its outlook on Cambodian GDP growth in 2011 from 6.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent just days after government officials announced a full percentage-point reduction in economic expectations. Stabilisation in the real estate sector, as well as strong increases ...

Representatives of election observers from six countries and leaders of the National Election Committee (NEC) claimed that Sunday’s national elections were free, fair and transparent. They also congratulated the 82 per cent of registered voters who turned up at the polls. The statements were made ...

As Cambodia’s demand for electricity grows and domestic energy production increases, new data released from the Ministry of Mines and Energy yesterday show that coal-fired energy generation surpassed hydroelectricity for the first time last year. ...

Asean leaders Tuesday discussed the importance of expanding economic opportunity for the region, vowing to increase efforts for better trade and investment amid members states and with the US. Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of Asean, said “more and more” was expected of Asean today. “So it is ...

Cambodia is ramping up efforts to attract US investment, especially because it benefits from trade preferences due to its status as a least-developed country, Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh says. Cambodian products can be imported duty free to a number of markets, including Europe and ...

Two global life insurers are opening offices in Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s few untapped insurance markets, as they strengthen their foothold in a region that could eventually be a key driver of revenue growth. Britain’s No. 1 insurer Prudential said on Monday it won in-principle ...

Phnom Penh: “Cambodia is needing $ 1 billion over the years or at least 100 million annual investment to develop renewable energy projects for rural electrification in order to reduce its dependence on diesel consumption,” said Mr. Toch Sovanna, Director of Departmemnt of Energy Technique, ...

Cambodia Angkor Air will start a daily service between Phnom Penh and Bangkok, 1 February [sic]. The airline launched its first service to Thailand, 30 November [sic] from Siem Reap and is scheduled to start a service to Hanoi 7 January [sic]. The Bangkok-bound flight will ...

The National Committee for Disaster Management is meeting with officials from throughout the country in Phnom Penh this week in the wake of a slew of destructive storms that have wreaked havoc in the first four months of 2013. Officials will gather for the second and ...