Economic policy and administration

Acting on direct orders from Prime Minister Hun Sen, Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong on Tuesday called on municipal officials to strictly monitor the companies that collect daily fees from the city’s market vendors. Mr. Hun Sen called out the governor in a speech on ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen presided over a ceremony at his Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Tuesday to unveil a new report that assesses the government’s foreign trade policies over the past seven years and lays out a policy roadmap for the next five. The report, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said that the foreign direct investments in Cambodia would increase in 2014, thanks to the country’s favorable and open policies. Hun Sen made the comments during a ceremony to launch Cambodia Trade Integration Strategy at the Peace Palace. ...

Cambodia’s rice exporters are eager to sell more of their goods in the United States and tap into the world’s largest economy. Speaking at the International Export Market Research for Cambodian Rice seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday, Song Saran, CEO of Amru Rice Cambodia, one of ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took a stand against intimidation and harassment at markets, ordering municipal and provincial governors to crack down on aggressive fee collectors they employ. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the capital’s Royal School of Administration, Hun Sen distanced himself from what ...

Mobile payment company Wing and the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) of Cambodia on Monday announced they had joined forces to expand the bank’s already-existing prepaid Visa card network in an effort to make it easier for locals without bank accounts to have access to electronic ...

Stringent rules to prove that rice exported from Cambodia is actually from Cambodia will be detailed today, according to a copy of a joint agreement between the Ministry of Commerce and industry associations. The Code of Conduct seeks to reassure the European Union that rice is ...

Cambodia’s exports to the United States, the country’s biggest market, were valued at about $2.8 billion last year, a three per cent rise from $2.7 billion in 2012, according to fresh statistics from the US Department of Commerce. Ken Ratha, a spokesman for Cambodia’s Ministry of ...

Overall revenue from Cambodia’s booming tourism sector reached $2.5 billion last year, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon. Khon said in an interview on Tuesday that the figure, which does not reflect the amount the state collected in taxes on the sector, marked a 15 per ...

After the Court of Appeal denied bail to 21 jailed protesters on Tuesday, 16 labor unions and associations announced Wednesday that they will retaliate by calling a nationwide labor strike in the middle of March. The unions, which mainly represent workers in the garment industry, said ...

Last year, the United Nations called for culture to be given top priority in the post-2015 global development agenda, citing its importance to economic growth, social inclusion, equality, and sustainable development. It is difficult to quantify the impact culture has on a nation, particularly for a developing ...

The government on Monday agreed to a comprehensive solution for rural families who have lost their land to well-connected agricultural plantations exporting sugar to the European Union (E.U.) duty free and will meet again early next month to discuss details. The decision was made at a ...

The Labor Ministry on Tuesday defended its failure to act on the results of its own study, which in November found that the minimum livable wage for garment factory workers is between $157 and $177. In its annual report, the ministry listed its wage study, carried ...

Wing, a growing Cambodian mobile payment and money transfer company, had a better-than-expected 2013. In May, Wing’s CEO Anthony Perkins estimated that the company would reach transaction volumes totaling $1 billion by the end of the year, including domestic remittances, mobile phone top ups, bills and ...

Cambodia and Vietnam vowed on Tuesday to further strengthen and expand friendship and cooperation for the benefits of the two countries and peoples. Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the two ministers agreed to increase cooperation in economics, trade, investment, ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday was optimistic about the country’s steadily growing trade with Vietnam and foresaw that the bilateral trade volume would definitely reach $5 billion by 2015. The two-way trade volume was valued at $3.5 billion last year, up 25 percent year-on-year. Speaking ...

Sixteen unions threatened Monday to organize a nationwide strike if the 21 activists and protesters jailed following garment industry protests on January 2 and 3 are not released on bail Tuesday. The unions also called for charges against the 21 prisoners, 16 of whom began a ...

The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training released its 2013 annual report Monday, trumpeting a list of nine achievements it had reached in line with its five-year plan for the fourth government mandate, which ended last year. Speaking to a crowd of about 100 officials ...

Despite the country remaining trapped in a tense political stalemate that shows no signs of abating, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday reiterated that the government would continue working as normal while the opposition’s boycott of parliament continues. “I will not talk about the political situation, as ...

Cambodia’s 38 microfinance institutions reported a 44 percent increase in loan disbursements in 2013, according to a report of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the regulator of banking and finance institutions in the country. The microfinance institutions had lent a total 1.17 billion U.S. dollars ...

Trade between Cambodia and neighboring Thailand reached 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, up 12 percent from 4 billion U.S. dollars a year earlier, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Sun Chanthol said Thursday. Of the amount, Cambodia’s export to Thailand was equivalent to 351 million U.S. dollars, ...

The director of a CPP senator’s sugar plantation accused of stealing land from hundreds of families said Wednesday that most locals were happy with the new jobs the plantation has generated, a week after a visiting European Union parliamentarian renewed calls for an investigation of ...

Insurance providers sold far fewer motor vehicle and personal accident policies in 2013 than in the previous year, sparking concern among some in the industry that the importance of being covered in case of a road accident isn’t getting through to drivers. According to the General ...

Cambodia’s strong economic growth and foreign investment are subject to “considerable” downside risks, the International Monetary Fund has warned. A staff report released in Washington late Tuesday said “economic activity remains strong driven by robust exports, with garment exports helped by preferential access to European Union.” At ...