Economy and commerce
Economic policy and administration
Low awareness of AEC pact
The Asean Economic Community (AEC) will cut red tape and allow freer trade between the bloc’s 10 member states. But many companies in the region aren’t even aware of the AEC blueprint, a sobering report from the Asia Development Bank has found. The bank also ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/low-awareness-aec-pact
CPP Parliament Approves Two Ministers, 2014 Budget
CPP lawmakers including Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously voted Friday for their party members, Suy Sem and Cham Prasidh, to become heads of the newly created Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, respectively. The 67 ruling-party parliamentarians present also approved ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-parliament-approves-two-ministers-2014-budget-49542/
Svay Rieng Workers Strike Again, Throw Rocks
Police briefly detained 13 garment factory workers on Thursday after about 20,000 workers, some throwing rocks, continued a strike that began Monday in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City over wages and working conditions, a union official and police said. Union leaders had on Wednesday evening agreed ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/svay-rieng-workers-strike-again-throw-rocks-49506/
Yearender: Cambodia's economy remains strong in 2013 despite political row, flood havoc: officials
Cambodia’s economy is expected to maintain the robust growth of over 7 percent this year even though the country is still trapped in political dispute and recovering from the aftermath of recent floods, senior officials and bankers said. But some analysts predicted that political trouble, coupled ...
Nguon Sovan and Wang Qibing
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-12/19/c_132979125.htm
Hun Sen’s Niece Opens Tax Consulting Firm
Local law and consulting firm HML, whose chairperson and founding partner is Hun Kimleng, a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen and wife of National Police chief Neth Savoeun, has teamed up with Tokyo-based XAT Tax Corp. to form a consulting agency focused solely on ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sens-niece-opens-tax-consulting-firm-49420/
Cambodian garment manufacturers, trade unionists talk over pay rise with no agreement
Cambodia’s garment manufacturers and trade unionists on Monday began a negotiation on pay rise for garment workers in 2014 but reached no any agreement because the union representatives demanded to double the current wage. The talk was made between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co-chair ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/16/c_132972280.htm
For 2013, trade value to reach $16 billion
The value of Cambodia’s overall trade volume for 2013 is expected to reach $16 billion, according to the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Keat Chhon. The figure comes to a 14.4 per cent rise from last year. ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/2013-trade-value-reach-16-billion
Illicit Trade Linked to $130M In Losses
A report released by a U.S. financial research firm today says that Cambodia lost an average of $133 million per year between 2002 and 2011 through crimes such as import and export tax evasion, illegal movements of money and smuggling. The report, released by Global Financial ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/illicit-trade-linked-to-130m-in-losses-49163/
Taxi Drivers Block Checkpoint In Poipet to Protest New Tax
Taxi drivers staged a large protest Wednesday at a customs checkpoint in Poipet City over customs officials’ demands for what the protesters said was an exorbitant tax on a small load of goods. At the checkpoint Wednesday, more than 50 taxi drivers blocked the road for ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/taxi-drivers-block-checkpoint-in-poipet-to-protest-new-tax-49159/
ACU Partners With Coca-Cola in Anti-Graft Agreement
During a four-hour pop concert in Phnom Penh to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Monday, the Coca-Cola Company and the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) signed an agreement that commits the international soft drinks company to avoid committing bribery in Cambodia. “Corruption is the barrier to development ...
Khy Sovuthy and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-partners-with-coca-cola-in-anti-graft-agreement-48957/
Inflation Rate at 4.2% to October
Cambodia’s inflation rate increased by 4.2 percent in the 12-month period to October, with food prices accounting for more than half of the rate, according to data released Monday by the National Institute of Statistics. The monthly inflation rate grew from 3.4 percent in August to ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/inflation-rate-at-4-2-to-october-48977/
Minister Says Set Phone Call Prices ‘Temporary’
The minister of posts and telecommunications on Monday insisted an edict ordering the country’s seven mobile phone operators to abide by a law that sets minimum prices for calls is only temporary. Prak Sokhon, the newly-appointed posts and telecommunications minister, said the order was necessary because ...
Joshua Wilwohl and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/minister-says-set-phone-call-prices-temporary-48975/
Cambodia-U.S. bilateral trade up 2 pct
Trade between Cambodia and the United States was valued at 2.55 billion U.S. dollars in the first ten months of 2013, up 2 percent from 2.49 billion U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the figures of the U.S. Department of Commerce showed Friday. Cambodia’s ...
The Global Post
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131206/cambodia-us-bilateral-trade-2-pct
Regulator to Review Minimum Prices for Calls
An official at the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia (TRC) said Wednesday that the body plans to review and possibly lower the current minimum price per call after it recently ordered the country’s seven mobile phone operators to abide by a law that sets minimum call ...
Joshua Wilwohl and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/regulator-to-review-minimum-prices-for-calls-48616/
To Celebrate Relations With China, Hun Sen Plants Rosewood Tree
Prime Minister Hun Sen and the visiting president of the China-Cambodia Friendship Association (CCFA) each planted a tree inside the Peace Palace compound in Phnom Penh on Wednesday to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Gu Xiulian, president of the CCFA, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/to-celebrate-relations-with-china-hun-sen-plants-rosewood-tree-48609/
Cambodia's tax revenues up 17 pct in 11 months
Cambodia’s General Department of Taxation had collected 800 million U.S. dollars of taxes in the first 11 months of the year, a 17 percent rise compared with the same period last year, a press release said Wednesday. The revenues came from tax on profit, withholding tax, ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/131204/cambodias-tax-revenues-17-pct-11-months
After Reform Promise, a Return to Statecraft as Usual
In an epic, six-hour address in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen apologized for the government’s many “problems” and promised a more reformist government over the next five years of his rule. Targeting corruption, deforestation and the lack of transparency across government sectors, the prime minister made ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-reform-promise-a-return-to-statecraft-as-usual-48602/
Cambodia Ranked Most Corrupt Country in the Region
Cambodia is now ranked as being perceived by investors as Southeast Asia’s most corrupt country, surpassing Laos and Burma on Transparency International’s annual corruption index. Cambodia ranked 160 of 175 countries in the report, with its index score a mere 20 out of 100. That’s two ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-ranked-most-corrupt-country-in-the-region/1802720.html
Cambodia's progress cannot be separated from China's support: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that the country’s development in all fields could not be detached from China’s aid and vowed to further deepen ties between the two countries. According to the figures recorded by the Cambodian Finance Ministry, to date, China has ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/829836.shtml#.Up_pgtIW2ls
Minimum call charges apply: TRC
Mobile phone call promotions undercutting the government’s minimum pricing regulations are to be outlawed – again. Minimum charges will be applied to mobile phone calls from on Thursday with the return of the Telecommunication Regulator of Cambodia’s (TRC) rules on call tariffs, the regulator confirmed yesterday. On ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/minimum-call-charges-apply-trc
Private Ship Registry Did Not Monitor Compliance
The privately-operated International Ship Registry of Cambodia (ISROC), a South Korea-based company that owns the rights to register foreign vessels under the Cambodian flag, told ship owners last year that it was not monitoring their observance of international maritime laws, and that it was their ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/private-ship-registry-did-not-monitor-compliance-48532/
Increase in Customs Taxes Raises Retail Prices in Cambodia
Customs officers along Cambodia’s border have been instructed to increase their efforts to properly inspect and tax products coming into the country, which has increased the cost of imports and led to a rise in retail prices for a host of goods, government officials, businessmen ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/increase-in-customs-taxes-raises-retail-prices-in-cambodia-48461/
Micro-insurance needs revamp: UN
The UN urged government and financial organisations to stimulate Cambodia’s flailing micro-insurance industry yesterday, after a study found the country’s poor are vulnerable to indebtedness during a crisis. The United Nations Development Business (UNDB) hosted a working group yesterday at Phnom Penh’s Sunway Hotel launching the ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/micro-insurance-needs-revamp-un
IMF Reiterates 7 Percent Growth Prediction for Cambodia
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has reaffirmed an earlier prediction that Cambodia will grow 7 percent this year, in an interview published today by The Post newspaper. Lagarde praised the country’s economic outlook, although she acknowledged that it will face challenges, ...
Prensa Latina News Staff
http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2140481&Itemid=1