Economy and commerce

Russian giant pulling back to core markets to achieve more rational structure and raise funds for investment... Russia's VimpelCom is considering selling many of its subsidiaries in Africa and Asia to focus on more "mature" markets, according to reports. The Financial Times newspaper says that the operator ...

Cambodian vegetable farmers say they are being forced to compete with more efficient farmers in Vietnam who use farming techniques to make their vegetables grow faster. Farmers in Sambork Meas, a village on the Mekong River in Mokkompul commune in Bakkeng district in Kandal province, say ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen called on Tuesday for the complete removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers when the ASEAN Economic Community is set up in 2015... Hun Sen also called for enhanced trade facilitation, further services liberalization and a regional framework for liberalizing and facilitating cross-border ...

PTT has set aside up to Bt6 billion to carpet key Asean markets with more than 240 retail petrol stations over the next five years. President and chief executive officer Pailin Chuchottaworn said the company had earmarked spending of between Bt5 billion and Bt6 billion through ...

GL Finance (GLF), the first and only financial leasing company in Cambodia, opened its 11th branch in Phnom Penh on Friday, covering all authorized Honda and NCX  dealerships in Phnom Penh and its vicinity. GLF, in partnership with Honda NCX, helps customers buy their own motorbikes and provides ...

The largest bank in Cambodia, Acleda Bank Plc, has extended its mobile banking and payments service to consumers without an existing banking relationship of any kind, according to a press release by global technology provider Fiserv. Established in 2010, Acleda Unity now reaches untapped consumer segments using ...

Improvements to Cambodia’s banking and finance sector are expected to come about as a result of the 2013 national budget, a Council of Ministers spokesman said. “We will dedicate resources to ensuring macro-economic stability,” spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Phay Siphan said. ... These measures, in conjunction ...

High demand for beef, particularly during the Islamic Qurban festival which ended yesterday, caused beef prices to almost double compared with the same period last year, according to Islamic leaders and officials. Him Khortieth, IKatan  Mahabbah Muslimin’s (IMAN) representative in Cambodia, said the association planned to ...

A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court's ruling. The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping ...

Cambodia has received a US$1 million grant in order to develop its milled rice industry and strengthen the country's exporting capacity, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. It is part of a larger, US$3-4 million grant from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), a partnership ...

A leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that ACLEDA Bank Plc. (ACLEDA), the largest bank in Cambodia, has extended its ACLEDA Unity mobile banking and payments service to new, untapped consumer segments using Mobiliti Reach™ from Fiserv. The bank, which has ...

Even as its controversial Xayaburi Dam project is still drawing protest from Mekong river downstream countries such as Cambodia, Laos has inked a deal with South Korean firms to build and operate another large hydropower plant on the Mekong River network. According to the Phnom Penh ...

Thailand's GL Finance Plc. launched its business in Cambodia on Friday by opening eight branches in Phnom Penh and Kandal province that will operate hire purchase operations out of Honda motorcycle dealership. Speaking during the opening ceremony for its branch in Phnom Penh's Prampi Makara district, ...

The collective power of agricultural co-operatives could bring huge benefits to poor, small-scale farmers, a Phnom Penh conference for international World Food Day heard on Friday. The sentiments were shared by the director of Cambodia’s General Directorate of Agriculture, So Khan Rithy Kun, who said farming ...

The Norwegian energy firm Eltek Valere won an injunction from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court earlier this month against the Thai-owned mobile operator Mfone after it filed a complaint claiming that Mfone had failed to pay $3.73 million in service charges, court documents obtained Friday ...

Cambodia's small economy leaves it especially vulnerable to devastation in the face of large-scale natural disasters, United Nations agencies and Cambodian officials warned last week. “The relative size of an economy adds to the vulnerability as seen particularly in the case of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic ...

Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...

The government on Friday pledged a 20 per cent increase to the base salary of civil servants year-on-year in a move one government official insisted was based on economics, not politics. The announcement was made in a statement released over the weekend outlining government spending for ...

Drawing from a long list of human rights abuses, the European Parliament has urged the Cambodian government to stop forced evictions, called on the European Commission (E.C.) to investigate the country’s controversial land concessions policy, and raised the prospect of sanctions. In a resolution passed Friday ...

The European Parliament, representing one of the country’s largest donors, on Friday called for a moratorium on forced evictions, an overhaul of elections and even went so far as to suggest to the European Union that it suspend tariff-free imports of agricultural goods linked to ...

The key to lifting people out of poverty could be found in the setting up of farming cooperatives, the country director of the World Food Program said on Friday, which was also World Food Day. Jean-Pierre de Margerie, country director of the World Food Program, said ...

The government has allocated more than $3 billion for total government spending in 2013, an increase of 19.2 percent on the $2.6 billion the government planned to spend in 2012, according to a statement issued by the Council of Ministers on Friday. The statement did not ...

Three more international airlines will soon begin operating flights to Cambodia's two main airports, according to Cambodia Airports, which owns and operates the facilities. Lao Central Airlines and Qatar Airways will offer flights to Phnom Penh, and Frankfurt-based Condor Air will fly direct to Siem Reap, ...

A majority of small and medium enterprises in Cambodia were not registered, despite the advantages it offered to businesses, participants at a workshop on business registration procedure, intellectual property and business etiquette for women heard yesterday. Referring to 2011 statistics, Chan Sorey, vice-minister of the Ministry ...