Economy and commerce
IMF projects further acceleration in Cambodian growth
The International Monetary Fund is projecting further modest acceleration in Cambodia’s rate of economic expansion over the next five years. In the latest World Economic Outlook released Tuesday, the IMF projects that Cambodia’s gross domestic product will grow from an estimated 7.0 percent last year to ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2VkZmJjNTE5ZjU
Hong Kong's KeyBridge acquires 65 pct shares of Cambodian telecom firm
The KeyBridge International (Hong Kong) Investment Company has acquired 65 percent shares of a Cambodian telecommunications company EMAXX in an amount of 15 million U.S. dollars, officials of the two companies announced Wednesday. “EMAXX has converted from a family business into a joint venture,” Ai Min, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-04/09/c_133249446.htm
Cambodia, India discuss ways to promote bilateral ties
Cambodian and Indian senior diplomats on Wednesday discussed ways to strengthen and expand bilateral relations and cooperation for mutual benefits of the two countries and peoples. The talk was made between Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Indian Ministry of External Affairs ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/09/c_133250010.htm
Families blocked from fencing disputed land
About a dozen Tuol Kok district security guards in Phnom Penh on Tuesday blocked three families involved in a long-running land dispute from building a fence around the disputed property in Boeng Kak I commune, an official said. Deputy district governor Saing Sopheak Vichet said the ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-blocked-from-fencing-disputed-land-56160/
Beeline to launch 4G network by year’s end
Mobile network operator Beeline announced on Monday that it will launch a 4G service by the end of the year. Hout Vanthan, the chairman of parent company Sotelco, said the 4G network will be available in Phnom Penh by the fourth quarter of 2014. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/beeline-launch-4g-network-year%E2%80%99s-end
Garment union president in court over incitement allegations
Ath Thorn, the president of the union that led strikes at the SL Garment Factory last year, appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday for questioning over allegations of incitement. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), headed by Mr. Thorn, spearheaded ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-union-president-in-court-over-incitement-allegations-56136/
Cashew plantations ‘destroyed’
Representatives of 50 families in Ratanakkiri’s Andong Meas district filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc yesterday alleging that a Vietnamese concessionaire is responsible for destroying about 50 hectares of cashew plantations. Sorl Penh, 58, a representative for the villagers from Nhang commune, said yesterday that ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cashew-plantations-%E2%80%98destroyed%E2%80%99
Costs don’t top brands’ concerns
In their latest bid for a $160 minimum monthly wage for the garment industry, independent unions will lead a “stay at home” strike late next week. While the chances of that figure being approved anytime soon seem slight – the government has only just announced a ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/costs-don%E2%80%99t-top-brands%E2%80%99-concerns
Rethinking investment laws
Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say. Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rethinking-investment-laws
Kampot Cement Company workers on strike
About 200 workers employed by a sub-contractor of Kampot Cement Company went on strike for several hours Tuesday, demanding better wages as well as annual leave, a union representative said. “The reason they went on strike is that they want Banjamag company to implement five points” ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kampot-cement-company-workers-on-strike-56168/
Ministry shake-up as AEC integration looms
The Ministry of Commerce is undergoing an internal shake-up to better position itself for the opening up of trade across the region. Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol told the Post yesterday that ahead of Asean Economic Community (AEC) integration in 2015, new divisions were being established and others realigned ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ministry-shake-aec-integration-looms
Schools take funding plan to the bank
Like mob deals and black market trades, the Cambodian school budget is dealt in suitcases of cash. Four times a year, the school operating budget is dispersed in stacks of cash transferred from the central bank to the Ministry of Education, eventually ending up with the ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/schools-take-funding-plan-bank
Rice sector credit boost
The government-backed Rural Development Bank (RDB) will lend $64 million to Cambodia’s agriculture sector in 2014, the bank’s top official said yesterday. Sun Kunthor, president of RDB, said most of the funding would be used to support growth in Cambodia’s rice sector as it strives to ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-sector-credit-boost
Mercedes halts imports over luxury tax
The sole retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars into the country, Hung Hiep (Cambodia) Co., has suspended imports since January over what it claims is a new import duty on luxury cars coming into the country. Other luxury car importers including Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover, ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mercedes-halts-imports-over-luxury-tax-56050/
Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014 in Cambodia opens in May
The Vietnam-Cambodia International Trade Fair and Exhibitions 2014, also known as Ho Chi Minh City EXPO 2014, will be held at Koh Pich Convention Center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on May 7-11. ...
Thao Tien
http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/Business/2014/4/108657/
World Bank raises growth forecast for Cambodia in 2014
The World Bank upwardly revised Monday its GDP growth forecast for Cambodia this year to 7.2 percent, up from its October projection of 7.0 percent. In explaining the higher forecast, the bank’s East Asia and Pacific Economic Update pointed to “the expectation of renewed confidence and ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjY5Zjc3MTUwZDg
World Bank says Cambodia has most liberal foreign investment regime in ASEAN
The World Bank says Cambodia has the most open foreign direct investment regime in ASEAN while Thailand has the most restrictive. In a report released Monday, the bank also said that Cambodia had recently emerged as ASEAN’s second-biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in the agricultural ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=OGM2MTVmYTQ0NTM
Cambodia leads doubts over AEC
In a rare moment of honesty a Cambodian official has admitted his doubts about his country’s ability to meet regional expectations in time for the launch of the much vaunted ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. “If you talk about short-term: Yes, we ...
Luke Hunt
http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/cambodia-leads-doubts-over-aec/
Python peddler arrested
Police in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district seized a shipment of live pythons en route to market in Vietnam on Friday, arresting the accused smuggler and turning the snakes over to conservation group Wildlife Alliance, police said yesterday. ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/python-peddler-arrested
Angkor ready for surge of tourists
Siem Reap hotel operators are preparing for a deluge of tourists this Khmer New Year season the likes of which is not often seen, tourism officials say. Chheuy Chhorn, deputy director of Siem Reap’s tourism department, said after attracting 170,000 visitors to the first annual Angkor ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/angkor-ready-surge-tourists
Paddy rice farms curb losses from lost land
Cambodian paddy rice production fell only slightly during the first half of this year’s dry season, despite 12,000 hectares of usually productive land deemed unusable due to last year’s floods. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, dry season paddy rice production between December ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/paddy-rice-farms-curb-losses-lost-land
Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
Labor Ministry, ILO set out plan for minimum wage reforms
Facing public pressure from major garment brands and labor unions, the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will cooperate in the coming months to reform the current system of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector. The reform process will begin with ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ilo-set-out-plan-for-minimum-wage-reforms-55869/
Capturing corruption in modern Cambodia
Towering temples and graceful apsaras are missing from a new Cambodia-themed photo show. Instead, camera lenses focused on corruption. The photos show poverty, inadequate sewage systems and parking squeezes at markets. Contest rules allowed photos to be staged—as long as contestants clarified that a photo was ...
Emily Wilkins
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/capturing-corruption-in-modern-cambodia-55812/