Economy and commerce

Cambodia’s economic freedom score dropped seven ranks in the annual Economic Freedom Index released by the Heritage Foundation, a US-based, conservative-leaning think tank. The 0.8 point dip in the score from last year put Cambodia’s economy in the “Mostly Unfree” category, ranking 101 out of ...

Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld casino posted a massive increase in profits and revenue driven by strong growth in high-value guests last year, with the amount of money gambled by VIPs at the capital’s only casino exceeding Cambodia’s gross domestic product for 2016. ...

The value of logs and sawn wood exported from Cambodia to Vietnam last year increased by about $31.5 million compared to 2016, customs data has shown. The Vietnamese data, obtained by Khmer Times yesterday, said about 163,071 cubic metres of Cambodian logs were imported to the ...

A Cambodian company is teaming up with a Thai investment partner to spend $100 million improving the quality of Cambodia’s agarwood trees, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies yesterday. ...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam last year increased nearly 30 percent to about $3.8 billion according to Vietnamese state-run media, while Cambodia has yet to report trade statistics for most of 2017.  ...

Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC) yesterday released its report for the fourth quarter of 2017, which showed significant growth in applications for credit, particularly in the credit card and mortgage sectors. ...

Officials in Cambodia and China’s Guangdong province are cooperating to establish trade using yuan instead of US dollars, part of the two countries’ increasingly close economic relationship. The suggestion to use yuan directly, instead of using US dollars as an intermediary currency, was made by ...

Fourteen families in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district filed a court complaint today against 60 security guards employed by Union Development Group (UDG) for allegedly destroying their crops and small huts on land belonging to the development conglomerate.​ ...

Bilateral trade between Việt Nam and Cambodia last year surged 29.7 per cent against the previous year to nearly US$3.8 billion, the General Department of Customs reported. Of the total, Việt Nam’s export turnover to this market was $2.77 billion, rising 26.1 per cent against the ...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Indonesia amounted to $492.7 million in the first 11 months of last year, a 23 percent increase compared to the same period in 2016, according to a report from an Indonesian state-run news agency. ...

After it graduated from least developed country status in July 2016, Cambodia’s economy has remained healthy with a GDP growth rate of 6.9 per cent in 2017. This was driven by the recovering tourism sector, the ongoing construction boom and the gradual emergence of non-textile ...

US-based convenience mart Circle K officially launched in Cambodia yesterday, with three outlets already operating in Phnom Penh and plans to open 40 more by the end of the year. ...

Aiming to inject momentum into their nascent debt markets, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released yesterday bond market guides for Cambodia and Myanmar. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that a 600-metre building would be constructed in Cambodia, though he did not mention specifics and similar projects proposed in the past have stalled before construction. ...

The draft of the new Law on the Chamber of Commerce is again being reviewed by the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce (CCC). Once the proposed changes to the draft are completed, the law will be sent to the Council of Ministers for further discussion and approval, ...

US-based solar energy developer Omni Navitas announced a plan to set up a $500 million, 150-megawatt solar energy farm in Cambodia, which CEO Jim McAuliffe said would make it the largest solar farm in Southeast Asia by capacity. ...

An interministerial task force has been established to ease simmering tensions between Cambodian and Chinese business owners in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville, the latest sign that a huge influx of Chinese investment is causing problems on Cambodia’s coast. ...

During his state visit to India, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged companies from the subcontinent to consider Cambodia as their next investment destination. Both governments have recently stressed the need to enhance air connectivity between both nations to boost the movement of tourists and businesspeople.​ ...

China’s growing presence and investment in a fast-developing Cambodian port and province have pushed up the crime rate and brought instability, its governor said in a letter to the government. ...

Cambodia attracted the fixed asset investment of 333.4 million U.S. dollars from its ASEAN member states in 2017, according to a government’s report on Friday.   ...

A Japanese consular office yesterday opened in Siem Reap town in a ceremony attended by Japanese and Cambodian dignitaries. Attending the events were Sieng Nam, CPP lawmaker for Siem Reap province, Chhay Sinarith, deputy National Police commissioner, and Nakane Kazuyuki, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs. ...

Construction began yesterday on a $10 million factory in Kampong Speu province to process fresh fruit for international export, a first for Cambodia, though Agriculture Ministry officials could not confirm it would meet international standards yesterday. ...

The seaside city of Sihanoukville, the home to Cambodia’s only deep-sea port, has seen massive investment from China in the past few years, and while some local people have welcomed the inflow of money, others feel they’re missing out. The signs of Chinese investment are everywhere ...

Indian government data show that annual trade between the Cambodia and India has lagged of late, decreasing by nearly 30 percent to $141 million during the last Indian fiscal year, which ran from April 2016 to May 2017. That’s the lowest level since the 2012-2013 ...