Economic policy and administration

The Cambodian government is drafting a series of changes to the Kingdom’s gaming laws in a bid to draw major players from Macau and the US to the market and potentially create a new tax base from the growing, if currently illegal, online betting industry, ...

Union leaders made another appeal for the Cambodian government to raise the minimum wage to $160 and rescind convictions of 25 workers arrested during deadly demonstrations in November and January. ...

The Japanese government will offer more than $21 million in grant aid and loans to Cambodia when Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visits later this month, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the statement, Kishida will ink a number of ...

South Korea-based Woori Bank has purchased Cambodian microfinance institution Malis Finance for $4.9 million. Hun Soopheak, general manager of Malis Finance, said the deal was finalised two weeks ago; however, the firm is still awaiting approval from Cambodian regulators. ...

The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...

About 80 workers protesting against a Japanese factory in Phnom Penh that produces cardboard boxes blocked the gates Friday after managers refused to hold a meeting with employees. Workers burned tires in front of the Harta Packaging factory, which they have been protesting against since February, ...

Chinese firm Huaxin Cement Co has purchased a 40 per cent stake in Cambodia Cement Chakrey Ting Factory Co, a cement-making factory currently under construction in Kampot province. Huaxin’s $24 million investment Cambodia Cement lifted the local factory’s working capital to $60 million, up from $32 ...

Once every four years, when the FIFA World Cup rolls around, business surveys and studies are inevitably released telling us that all those hours spent watching football, thinking about football and talking about football have a tangible effect on the global economy. During the 2010 World ...

Grand Twins International (GTI) ended trading yesterday with a slight decline. The newly listed company was changing hands at 9,480 riel ($2.36) per share at the 1pm close, down from 9,640 riel ($2.40) at the morning’s opening. ...

U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi met with representatives of the country’s businesses and employers Thursday for talks that focused on the protection of workers’ rights and measures that can be taken to ensure that strained industrial relations do not once again erupt into violence. In ...

The activist Independent Monk Network has called on the Ministry of Cult and Religion to release paperwork proving that an agreement it struck with NagaCorp to help construct an electricity substation at Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute does not involve the selling of any of the ...

Demand for top-quality workspace in Phnom Penh is increasing, so much so that property firm Knight Frank has labelled the capital as the fastest-growing city for rented prime office space in the entire Asia Pacific region. The firm’s June 3 quarterly report, which marks the first ...

The Cambodian finance industry is to celebrate the sixth Banking and Finance Conference a week from today, at a meeting that will focus on developing technology in the country’s financial sector. ...

The consequences and containment of violence cost the Cambodian economy over $1.5 billion in 2013, just under 10 per cent of its estimated GDP for the period, according to the Institute for Economics & Peace’s Global Peace Index released yesterday. According to IEP executive chairman ...

The Cambodian government has budgeted $3.5 million for tourism-related advertising and promotions in 2014, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said yesterday. “This year the budget has reached $3.5 million dollars, half of the total budget for the ministry as we will host PATA Travel Mart 2014,” ...

Acleda Bank has reinvested $39 million of profits back into its operations instead of paying out dividends to shareholders, an announcement on its website states. It is the 11th time Alceda has opted to increase registered capital, with the latest top-up taking the bank’s total capital ...

Lagging demand from foreign buyers has led to Cambodian rice being stockpiled at the country’s mills, according to the head of the country’s peak rice body. Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said that with exporters receiving fewer orders, the country’s larger rice ...

Workers at a garment factory that closed without warning last week received payment yesterday for nearly a month and a half of work, but some are still waiting for bonuses owed to them. More than 400 workers lined up at the Canadia Industrial Park gates, behind ...

The Ministry of Commerce has vowed to uncover more markets for Cambodian products to help buffer against price fluctuations caused by the Kingdom’s dependency on neighboring countries. In a response to concerns raised on social media, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol wrote on the ministry’s official Facebook ...

The group in charge of determining the national minimum wage for the garment sector yesterday agreed to increase salaries annually on January 1, determined by discussions that are to take place in the final quarter of each preceding year, officials said. The agreement was signed during ...

Bankrupt telecommunications company Mfone yesterday handed out the final instalments of unpaid wages to former employees. More than 1,000 former Mfone staffers received the remaining 30 per cent of their unpaid wages after the telecommunications firm filed for bankruptcy in February 2013. Since then, workers have ...

After a five-month IPO process steeped in anticipation, Grand Twins International ended its first day on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) with results many observers found disappointing. GTI shares opened yesterday’s session at 9,700 riel ($2.41), with a ceremonial bell ringing at the CSX’s head office. ...

It may not have all the glitter, adrenaline or the iconic tolling bell of Wall Street, but today, the usually deserted Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) will be a hive of activity. After first hinting at an initial public offering more than two years ago, garment manufacturer ...

Workers at the Beautiful Spring Footwear factory in Takeo province refused to end a two-day protest on Saturday after management ceded to most of their demands but refused to raise their good-attendance bonus. The factory’s roughly 1,000 workers started protesting outside the building on Friday, two ...