Economy and commerce

Government revenues totalled more than $700 million over the first four months of the year, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase, data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) show. In total, the revenue made by the General Department of Taxation (GDT) rose by about ...

About 200 protesters clamoured yesterday in front of a Kandal province commune chief’s office, demanding the state take control of providing their electricity. Yong Phany, a 32-year-old protester from Ang Snuol district’s Poeuk commune said Peoun Sambat, the private company contracted to provide electricity to the ...

The government does little to protect the rights and livelihoods of the country’s many ethnic minorities who are under constant threat from rapid development, representatives of indigenous groups said yesterday. “We have polices laws and guidelines to protect indigenous people, but we see that it doesn’t ...

Cambodia’s strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday warned garment workers that protests demanding higher wages could push manufacturers to quit the country. His appeal came after unions last week said hundreds of workers had been fired from a factory making sportswear for US giant Nike ...

Cambodia posted the sharpest increase in production among the world’s major rice producers between 2000 and 2010, the Food and Agricultural Organization said in a report released Wednesday. The 2013 edition of the UN agency’s Statistical Yearbook showed that Cambodia was the world’s 12th largest rice ...

Two thousand five hundred – for Mom Dalin, this is more than just a random number or the price of a coffee, it is her way of making a living. The 55-year-old sits at a small desk in her son’s shop on Sihanouk Boulevard, within sight ...

Although currently there are a lot of development projects for resorts and guesthouses on various islands off Cambodia’s coast, experts say it is not the right time for such developments. Po Eavkong, managing director of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, said the development activities on islands in ...

The French and German chambers of commerce have both merged into the larger European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia in order to gain combined strength and be more effective as an interface between European business and the Cambodian government. The agreement is set to be formalised ...

The elusive Mekong giant catfish, which the U.S.-based World Wildlife Fund (WWF) called “one of the world’s largest and rarest freshwater fish,” can reach up to three meters (10 feet) and weigh up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds). The Xayaburi dam would prove an “impassable barrier” ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism on Wednesday finalized its 5-year strategic plan to attract at least 1.3 million Chinese visitors by 2018. Speaking at a seminar on Cambodia tourism marketing strategy targeting China, So Visothy, director of the Tourism Ministry’s Marketing and Promotion Department, said that currently ...

Thousands of workers from the Macau-owned M & V International Manufacturing Ltd on Wednesday blocked National Road Two to demand better working conditions. The protestors have 11 lists of demands including bonuses of 4,000 riel ($1) for food, $3 for holiday pay, and $12 for ...

In a joint effort to promote trade ties, government officials in Cambodia and Thailand have organised the first “Caravan Fair” in which producers within the neighbouring countries will showcase their products to one another. The Cambodia-Thailand Caravan Fair 2013, a travelling event starting on June 25 ...

Grounded Tonlesap Airlines has changed its name to Wat Phnom Airlines, an official with Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation said yesterday, about two months after the local chartered carrier suspended all of its flights. Wat Phnom Airlines is now in the process of applying for ...

National energy supplier Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) on Monday announced that a 50-MW coal-fired power plant in Preah Sihanouk province is ready to come online this week and will solve Phnom Penh’s chronic blackouts. The statement does not mention which power plant had been completed, ...

Gambia’s recent announcement that it would ban rice imports in about three years to spur local demand will only have a small impact on Cambodia, which sends a portion of its annual output to the west African country and other nations on the continent, data ...

The saga of the stalled $240 million Gold Tower 42 was revived last week when it emerged that a supplier for the project had accused the owner and builder of failing to pay out nearly $500,000 in fees, according to an injunction request obtained by ...

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Monday they have taken the necessary steps to investigate claims that the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton, bribed officials in Cambodia and played down reports that it had mishandled one the country’s largest cases in corporate corruption. “The ...

A court official at the Kompong Speu Provincial Court said Monday that a total of 16 union representatives have been charged with damaging property and inciting violence during a protest outside a garment factory earlier this month, twice the number of arrests previously confirmed. Provincial Judge ...

Economic cooperation between Cambodia and Hong Kong is on the rise, while the introduction of a new visa extension is also evidence of strengthening relations, officials say. On June 1, Cambodian officials will be able to travel to Hong Kong without a visa and stay ...

One of Japan’s largest banks will open a representative office in July due to burgeoning interest in Cambodia most likely by Japanese investors, a bank official said yesterday. Mizuho Financial Group will open a small office in Phnom Penh Tower on Monivong Boulevard on July 8, ...

Cambodia expects to welcome 4.5 million tourists by 2015, increasing from 3.5 million in 2012, thanks to its cultural properties, Prime Minister Hun Sen said. “Undoubtedly, heritage and cultural tourism are playing a substantial part in this growth. Twenty years ago, when Angkor was inscribed on ...

Reports have today emerged criminal allegations that BHP Billiton employees bribed officials in Cambodia and China were not thoroughly investigated by the Australian Federal Police, with the matter instead being passed over to corporate regulator ASIC, which also ran no in-depth investigation. The documents released ...

About two months after Phnom Penh-based Tonlesap Airlines suspended its chartered flights, the local carrier’s future seems as cloudy as ever. Vann Chanty, the director of air transport with Cambodia’s State Secretariat of Civil Aviation, said yesterday that the airline had not resumed operations and that ...

Cassava farmers in Banteay Meanchey province had to import seeds from Thailand this season in response to rapidly-changing weather conditions that interfered with seed growth. Te Haing, a cassava farmer in Banteay Meanchey who planted more than 1,000 hectares this season, told the Post yesterday that ...