Economy and commerce

Battambang land prices have increased this year, according to a local real estate firm. Sorn Seap, general manager of Key Real Estate, said land prices in Battambang city, capital of the province of the same name, have increased by around 12 per cent this year compared ...

The number of mobile subscribers in Cambodia topped 20 million last year, surpassing the country’s population by about 5 million. Internet users also jumped, according to a report released Wednesday by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The report fails to say how many Cambodians own ...

After its November launch in Hong Kong, Alila Villas Koh Russey will break ground late next month, initiating the construction of a world-class luxury resort. Alila Villas occupies 25 hectares on Koh Russey, an island in the Koh Rong archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand, with ...

Chinese firm Global (Cambodia) Trade Development will launch several more city bus lines in Phnom Penh over the next 10 months, dramatically expanding what has so far been a successful experiment to introduce mass transit to the capital, the company and state media said yesterday. Lin ...

Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...

The government today will begin strict inspections of agencies that recruit workers to send overseas, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said Tuesday. The labor minister has previously threatened to suspend or revoke the licenses of agencies that do not comply with labor laws. Speaking at a workshop ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said Tuesday that he has sent a letter responding to 30 international clothing brands who recently wrote to the government expressing their concerns over a draft union law which could allow for the arbitrary breakup of unions. Speaking outside a conference ...

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by assets, said on Tuesday it has been approved by National Bank of Cambodia as a clearing bank for the Chinese yuan currency in the country. ...

The United States government on Tuesday organized an intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement workshop for some 50 Cambodian and Lao law enforcement officials. ...

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, the country’s third-biggest lender, is keen to exit its holding in Cambodia and will look at wholly owned business models wherever regulations allow. “We got out of a relationship, a small relationship, in Vietnam. We would like to ...

Thai rice millers are lining up to build mills in Cambodia to cash in on imminent regional economic integration, with experts warning Cambodian rice is likely to flood Thailand. An industry source said several millers from Thailand’s central and northeastern regions are preparing to set up ...

A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...

Three families involved in a bitter land dispute with a powerful land developer in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district on Monday rejected City Hall’s offer of new housing, saying the apartments being offered were far too small. They also said they planned to file a complaint ...

The European Commission (E.C.) will today ban all fish imports from Cambodia, carrying through on its threat made in November to punish the country for failing to show genuine commitment to tackling the global problem of illegal fishing, according to a memo released Friday. The ban, ...

A Chinese developer with a “family-like” relationship to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s bodyguard unit has accelerated construction at its $5 billion resort – ostensibly cancelled by royal decree in 2010 – in a protected national park in Preah Sihanouk province. The 3,300-hectare Golden Silver Gulf resort ...

Employees at the Kampong Speu shoe factory where a ceiling collapse killed two workers last May are headed back to work today after more than a week on strike, but will take their demands to the Arbitration Council. ...

Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei is to attend the inauguration of a tractor assembly in Cambodia next week, according to the Belarusian Telegraphic Agency. “There are plans to discuss a wide range of issues of the bilateral agenda with the emphasis on the prospects of ...

Cambodia’s central bank won’t recognise bitcoin as a form of payment, making the Kingdom the latest Asian country to reject the digital currency. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Chea Serey confirmed the regulator’s stance on the issue on Wednesday, citing the absence of any e-commerce law ...

On the shore of Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district overlooking a cluster of islands, a flourishing new golf course lies vacant but for a handful of workers tending its empty greens. The Romanesque hotel behind it, replete with a bold central dome, luxury VIP suites ...

Logging by Vietnamese-owned concessionaire Company 72 has once again spilled the boundaries of its land in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district, this time without paying proper taxes to the Forestry Administration (FA), local forest conservation activist Romas Svang said yesterday. ...

Soft-drinks giant PepsiCo has pledged to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to land grabs by its sugar suppliers. In a statement posted on the company’s website on Tuesday, it said the move came in response to a campaign by Oxfam, which targeted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. ...

After postponing construction due to the 2008 economic crisis, work on the ambitious Cambodia Plaza is gradually being resumed. The plaza is a mixed development project along Russian Boulevard close to the western end of the 7 January Overpass. Cambodia Plaza project manager Adam Liv said the ...

Phnom Penh’s third overpass, or flyover, bridge is now close to completion, some eight months ahead of schedule, and its planners say it will not only greatly improve traffic congestion in the southwest of the city but will also lead to price increases for property ...

A majority government-owned life insurance company has stopped paying out benefits to policy holders who die while taking part in protests and demonstrations, the company confirmed yesterday. The Cambodian Life Insurance Company – 51 per cent owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 49 ...