Economic policy and administration

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said it would be impossible to double the garment workers from USD 80 to USD 160 even though he wish to see them to have better life. “Which leaders and Prime Ministers don’t want to see their peoples have good ...

Megabank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. said Tuesday that it will boost business collaboration with Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s leading commercial bank, and Absa Bank in South Africa, Japan’s Jiji Press reported. The Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. unit said it has dispatched a staff member to a ...

Economic freedom in Cambodia worsened over the past year, according to the latest report from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in the US. Cambodia is ranked 108 out of 178 countries surveyed, with an overall score of 57.4, a 1.1-point dip from ...

Vietnam Dairy Product Joint-Stock Co, better-known to milk lovers as Vinamilk, was granted a licence on Monday to open a $23 million processing facility in Phnom Penh’s Special Economic Zone. A statement to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange released by the dairy giant on Monday ...

Thousands of garment workers from four factories have gone back on strike this week to protest a decision by their employers to withhold pay for the days they did not work during recent nationwide strikes. Between 8,500 and 12,500 workers at four factories—two in Phnom Penh, ...

Cambodia’s opposition leaders were questioned in court Tuesday in connection with recent protests against strongman premier Hun Sen — a case they denounced as politically motivated. Prosecutors at Phnom Penh Municipal Court spent several hours grilling Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha about unrest that ...

The Free Trade Union (FTU) on Monday reported an overall increase in industrial action by its local branches last year with 136 total strikes in the first 11 months of 2013, up 35 percent from all of 2012, when there were 101 strikes by its ...

Political instability has done little to dampen Vietnam’s appetite for investment in Cambodia, the latest figures revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Hun Sen show. Last year, Vietnamese investment reached $302 million, up 250 per cent from $86 million in 2012, according to the prime minister, who ...

Visiting representatives from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Monday urged the Labor Ministry to withdraw its threat to revoke the licenses of six unions behind recent strikes, and to drop legal proceedings against union leader Rong Chhun. His visit follows garment worker protests ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said that the flow of investment in Cambodia increased sharply from USD2.9 billion in 2012 to USD4.9 billion in 2013. During the 4th Cambodia-Vietnam Conference on Investment Cooperation at Peace Palace, he said the Vietnamese investments also increased, from ...

Construction investment in Cambodia in the past 11 months of 2013 was worth of USD 2.4 billion or 1526 projects, covering construction area of 7 million sq km, said The Ministry of Urbanization and Construction. The ministry added that compared with the same period of last ...

About 100 people, including 20 monks, held a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Friday in memory of the five people killed a week beforehand when military police opened fire on protesting garment workers, and demanded that the government introduce a mandatory, sector-wide standard minimum wage. In ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday assigned former Finance Minister Keat Chhon as the head of a newly formed committee tasked with researching the government’s capacity to introduce wage increases for civil servants and factory workers. The statement said that Mr. Hun Sen also spoke ...

Japan has expressed its deep concern about the situation in Cambodia following the deadly crackdown on striking garment workers last Friday, and admitted Thursday that it had contacted the government during the protests to ask for protection of Japanese citizens and companies. Military police armed with ...

Major labels that have clothing manufactured in Cambodian factories have written an open letter expressing concern for the recent shootings of workers demonstrating for higher wages. Adidas, Gap, H&M, Levi’s and Puma were among those that signed the January 7 letter to the Phnom Penh government, ...

The UN human rights agency urged Cambodia to launch an investigation into the “disproportionate” use of force by security forces last week against garment factory workers striking over pay. Military police opened fire on workers protesting outside a factory in Phnom Penh on January 3 and ...

The kingdom’s General Department of Taxation had collected 881 million U.S. dollars of taxes in 2013, up 19 percent from 740 million U.S. dollars in a year earlier, a press release said Thursday. ...

As garment workers continued to return to their factories Wednesday after several days of strikes that turned deadly last week, some of their employers have wasted no time in suing the unions behind the strikes, demanding compensation. Phnom Penh Municipal Court chief clerk Prak Savouth said ...

Cambodia is considering the development of an expressway network to meet the need for the country’s growing economy, Minister of Public Works and Transport Tram Iv Tek said here Wednesday. The minister said many Asian countries, including neighboring Vietnam and Thailand, have formulated their national ...

Cambodia had exported some 379, 000 tonnes of milled rice last year, up 84 percent from 205,700 tonnes recorded in 2012, government data showed Saturday. Some 84 companies have exported rice to 66 countries and regions around the world, the data said, adding that France, Poland, ...

Unions behind last week’s garment factory strikes said their members had largely gone back to work this week, although they have not ruled out resuming protests for a higher minimum wage later this month. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike starting on December 24 ...

Cambodia’s garment and shoe industry has lost roughly 275 million U.S. dollars due to outlawed garment strikes in the past two weeks, Van Sou Ieng, President of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), said Monday. The garment and shoe industry comprise more than 900 ...

Cambodia imported 1.4 million tonnes of petroleum in the first eleven months of 2013, down 2 percent from the 1.43 million tonnes a year earlier, the data of the Commerce Ministry showed Sunday. During the January-November period, the country spent about 1. 34 billion U.S. dollars ...

A senior member of the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday endorsed the use of deadly force by military police against striking garment workers, which left five dead and more than 20 with gunshot wounds. “GMAC condemns the use of violence, period,” he ...