Economy and commerce
Recent Development and Economic Outlook
The UN’s assessment suggests that Cambodia is one of the top five countries that have made significant progress toward meeting its MDGs by 2015. The poverty rate has dropped dramatically from 47.50 percent in 1993 to 34.70 percent in 2004 and 23 percent in 2011, ...
Siem Reap Power Cut Hurts Tourism Industry
Three days after it went out, power had yet to be restored to large parts of Siem Reap province yesterday, badly impacting local businesses in the popular tourist hub of Siem Reap City and seeing a rush of people to buy generators. The power failure followed ...
Second-hand, first in imports
Cambodia imported almost 10 times as many used clothes as new ones in the first 11 months of last year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Some 79,217 tonnes of used garments worth $61.5 million were brought in during that period, compared ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030461731/Business/second-hand-first-in-imports.html
Naga World Boss Acquires Billionaire Status
The Malaysian founder of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, Chen Lip Keong, is now a billionaire after seeing his fortune multiply in size in recent years, according to Forbes magazine. The magazine, which calculates the wealth of individuals using company data, published a list of the ...
Acleda seeks bidders for ATM drive
Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, Acleda, plans to install 30 automatic teller machines (ATMs) this year as the bank expects about a million new depositors during the coming year. Acleda president and chief executive In Channy told the Post yesterday additional ATMs would be installed in Phnom ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030461728/Business/acleda-seeks-bidders-for-atm-drive.html
Cambodia launches green growth plan 2013-2030
Cambodia on Friday adopted the national policy and strategic plan for green growth 2013-2030, aiming at developing the economy with consideration for environmental and natural resources sustainability. It said the country has already adopted several legal instruments for the green growth implementation. Those included ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/01/c_132201617.htm
HLB gets nod to open bank in Cambodia
Hong Leong Bank Bhd (HLB) has received approval from Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce to open a wholly-owned, locally incorporated commercial bank in Cambodia. HLB said with a capital of US$37.5 million (RM116.2 million), Hong Leong Bank (Cambodia) Plc will commence operations in Cambodia within ...
Walmart and H&M Suppliers Pay Workers at Closed Cambodia Plant
Suppliers to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) agreed yesterday to pay about $145,000 in back wages and severance to about 160 workers at a Cambodian factory that closed in November, a labor activist involved in the deal said. The agreement, which ...
Cambodia, UK trade volume reaches $750 million in 2012
The United Kingdom embassy in Phnom Penh said today that bilateral trade volume between the two kingdom had reached to $750 million, an increase of 27 per cent if compared to 2011. British Ambassador Mark Gooding welcomed the increasing trade between the UK and Cambodia. “bilateral ...
Cambodia sees sharp rise in trade volume with its neighbors last year
Cambodia has seen a remarkable rise in trade volume with its neighboring Vietnam and Thailand in 2012, official statistics showed on Friday. The bilateral trade with Vietnam was worth 3.3 billion U.S. dollars last year, up 18 percent year-on-year, according to a data from the Vietnam ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-03/01/c_132200604.htm
CNRP Proposes Minimum Wage Law for Garment, State Workers
The Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) has submitted a new law to the National Assembly for consideration that would institute a minimum monthly wage of $150 for garment workers and $250 for civil servants, the newly formed opposition party announced at a press conference yesterday. The ...
Mega-bank joins forces with Canadia
CANADIA Bank and Japan-based Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday agreeing to work together to tap the flow of Japanese investors into the Kingdom. The MoU was signed by Canadia Bank chief executive officer Michael Lor and Masato Miyachi, the general manager ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030161679/Business/mega-bank-joins-forces-with-canadia.html
Brit brands target local market
MORE UK-based brands were looking to set up shop in Cambodia, Britain’s ambassador to Cambodia, Mark Gooding, said yesterday. Gooding said at Costa Coffee’s official opening in Phnom Penh he was pleased by the arrival of the international chain, the largest coffee brand in the UK, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030161680/Business/brit-brands-target-local-market.html
Cambodia's garment workers confront multinationals
Since mid-January a group of illegally laid off Cambodian garment workers – mostly women – have been picketing the factory they worked in. Their objective was to stop the company, which closed down, owing the workers, collectively, about US$200,000 of unpaid wages, from removing the ...
Cambodian PM greets large group of Chinese businesspeople
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday met with a large group of Chinese business executives visiting Cambodia to explore investment opportunities. To date, he said, the Sino-Cambodian relationship has reached the level of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Cooperation. The premier said China has helped ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-02/28/c_132199209.htm
Cambodia to earn $50 mln a year from cassava exports to China
Cambodia will earn about $50 million a year from exports of dried cassava to China through Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly said Thursday. Cambodia’s agricultural exports previously went through Vietnam and Thailand, amounting to between 7,000 and 8,000 tons a year. ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjdjMmVlNGJmZDQ
Cambodian exports to Malaysia almost double in 2012
Cambodia’s exports to Malaysia almost doubled from $55.5 million a year earlier to $101 million in 2012, the Malaysian Embassy said. Exports were led by crude rubber at $69.1 million followed by milled rice at $24.3 million, up sharply from $9.5 million in 2011 and ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=MWU5MWViZGE1NTc
Finance Minister Lauds Boeng Kak's Tax Bill
The Finance Ministry has sent a letter to well-known businesswoman Choeung Sopheap thanking her for paying her taxes on the highly controversial filling in of Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake, and holding her firm up as an example of corporate professionalism. Though Shukaku Inc., which is ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/finance-minister-lauds-boeng-kaks-tax-bill-11863/
Thai Representative Meets With Koh Kong ‘Blood Sugar’ Families
Some 200 Koh Kong farmers locked in a long-running land dispute with two sugar plantations met Tuesday with a representative of the Thailand-based owners for the first time since the land dispute began in 2006. Khamrom Phochai, a Thai national and representative of Thailand’s Khon Kaen ...
Investment to aid low earners
US-BASED Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) yesterday signed a deal to provide a $5 million long-term loan to Thaneakea Phum (Cambodia) Ltd (TPC), a local microfinance institution (MFI), to support TPC’s expansion of its home improvement loans for low-income Cambodians. Fernanda Lima, director of US-based socially ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022861653/Business/investment-to-aid-low-earners.html
CSX to increase trade times
THE Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), the recently established bourse with a single player, will increase the number of trade executions from twice to six times a day, a move that will take effect on March 11. A CSX officer and the managing director of a securities ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022861659/Business/csx-to-increase-trade-times.html
Direct flights set for all ASEAN this year
CAMBODIA will have direct flights to all ASEAN member states this year in order to promote stronger growth of the tourism sector in the Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Cambodia will become fully connected to the ASEAN region ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013022861655/Business/direct-flights-set-for-all-asean-this-year.html
Foreign investment in Cambodia’s property rises
Property experts say foreign companies are coming to invest in Cambodia’s property sector, as they see the growth and potential of the Kingdom. Sung Bonna, director of Bonna Realty Group, said that the number of foreign companies in the sector has grown, and most are from ...
Preah Vihear Families' Land Issues Go Unheard
About 50 families living on the site of the long-discussed Preah Vihear airport went to the provincial hall yesterday to request that local officials reconsider their earlier decision to refuse them land titles on the grounds that the airstrip would soon be rebuilt. Villagers attended ...