Though U.S.-owned buSineSSeS in Cambodia are optimiStic of the country&rSquo;S economy, itS appeal aS an inveStment deStination lagS behind moSt of itS neighborS due to the perception of endemic corruption, a new Survey of 475 Senior U.S. buSineSS executiveS in ASean ShowS. The 2013-14 ASEAN BuSineSS SS='cambodia-color'>...

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index 2011-2012 ranked the Philippines 75th out of 142 economies, up from 85th out of 139 in the 2010-2011 report. Last year’s placing marked a reversal of 2009’s slide to 87th in a list of 133, from 71st ss='cambodia-color'>...

Moody’s Investors service announced yesterday  it had downgraded the credit rating of ACLEDA Bank, citing the departure of two of  the bank’s major investors in as many years. The loss of a second big sharehol-der in the first half of this year had led to ss='cambodia-color'>...

After experiencing decades of floods, Cambodia’s microfinance institutions say they no longer have problems disbursing loans during the rainy season, according to the head of Cambodia’s Microfinance Association (CMA). A survey issued early this year by a coterie of international aid organisations, including Oxfam, Care, PACT ss='cambodia-color'>...

The Council of Ministers on Friday signed off on the Lower sesan 2 dam project in stung Treng province, despite long-standing criticism leveled against the project by environmental groups who say it would adversely affect 100,000 people as a consequence of reduced access to fish. The ss='cambodia-color'>...

Experts are recommending that a proposed dam on the sesan River in northeast Cambodia be equipped with earthquake protection measures, after discovering a quake occurred in the area some 30 years ago. The proposed Lower sesan II dam would be situated on a site in stung ss='cambodia-color'>...

United StateS Trade RepreSentative Ron Kirk will be in Siem Reap, Cambodia, AuguSt 30-31, to participate in the ASSociation of SoutheaSt ASian NationS (ASEAN) Economic MiniSterS&rSquo; meeting and the ASEAN-U.S. BuSineSS Summit. The ten ASEAN countrieS are key economic and Strategic partnerS for the United StateS, SS='cambodia-color'>...

A Dak Lak province business forum late last week discussed measures to further promote investment in the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle. About 300 delegates and guests from the three countries attended the forum, organised by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), in partnership with Vietnam’s ss='cambodia-color'>...

About 2,000 workers at a factory supplying clothes to U.s. brands Levi strauss, Gap and Old Navy were stopped by security forces yesterday as they attempted to march from Kandal province to the Ministry of Labor to protest for severance payments and additional benefits. Protests at ss='cambodia-color'>...

Global food prices fell 1 per cent or two points in the October 2012 Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Food Price Index released on October 7, 2012. The index averaged 213 points, compared to september’s revised level of 215 points. According to the FAO, the decrease ss='cambodia-color'>...

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong’s visit to meet U.s. secretary of state Hillary Clinton in Washington was met with a small protest Tuesday from Cambodian-Americans voicing a number of grievances. Video footage posted online shows a cluster of protesters outside the state Department building in Washington ss='cambodia-color'>...

Kratie, a province in northeast Cambodia has seen an improvement in tourist arrivals and length of stay since the Mekong Discovery Trail project was established in 2007. The Mekong Discovery Trail is a co-operative effort with the Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism and has the support of ss='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia Post, a state-owned enterprise with plans to list on Cambodia’s bourse, will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today with the Thai Post intended to provide electronic money transfer services between the two AsEAN neighbours. The initiative hopes to tap the growing remittance via ss='cambodia-color'>...

SaleS of SIM cardS reached 19.7 million laSt year, a 21 per cent riSe from the 16.2 million Sold in 2011, data from the MiniStry of PoSt and Telecommunication (MPTC) ShowS. In contraSt to the uSe of SIM cardS, the number of telco operatorS decreaSed. In SS='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia is rapidly attracting more and more visitors from tourists to businessmen. Visits are continuing to climb as January figures show a 15.4 percent increase, Cambodia’s statistics and tourist Information Department reported. so far,the country has welcomed 404,106 visitors compared to 350,257 during the same ss='cambodia-color'>...

More than a week after the World Bank blacklisted a Canadian construction firm over bribes allegedly paid in Cambodia and Bangladesh, it was still unclear Thursday whether the government, or the national anticorruption body, are investigating the allegations. sNC-Lavalin Inc. was banned from World Bank contracts ss='cambodia-color'>...

A protester involved in Tuesday’s clash between sL Garment Factory workers and security forces filed a complaint yesterday against Phnom Penh’s municipal and military police chiefs, accusing them of responsibility for the death of a 49-year-old street-food vendor who was killed by police gunfire, according ss='cambodia-color'>...

A new study and accompanying short film released yesterday call for all lower Mekong dam developers to halt plans until further impact studies can be made. Hydropower dams will have a greater impact on river flows than even climate change, according to research by the University ss='cambodia-color'>...

Detainees and prisoners continue to be administered electric shocks, beaten unconscious and even smothered by plastic bags, with 49 new allegations of torture or abuse at the hands of authorities this year, according to rights group Licadho, which says in a report released Wednesday that ss='cambodia-color'>...

Anguished cries from supporters and family members echoed outside the Appeals Court in Phnom Penh yesterday as they received the news bail had been denied. They had been hoping for the release of 21 people detained since a brutal government crackdown in early January. On ss='cambodia-color'>...