Economy and commerce

The Cambodian government has approved 53 new garment and footwear factories, worth an estimated US$338 million, during the first half of this year, compared with 38 last year valued at $180 million, despite the increase in the number of strikes affecting the industry. Officials and industry ...

More than 180,000 hectares on 28 of Cambodia’s 64 islands were reclassified as state private property for 31 companies seeking land concessions between 2008 and 2010, government sub-decrees reveal. The reclassification sub-decrees, compiled by investigators at the rights group Adhoc, pave the way for firms to ...

Aviation revenues have been released by government officials who were hesitant to reveal details but said yesterday the figures had increased by about three per cent. Mao Havannal, secretary of state for the Civil Aviation Secretariat, said after yesterday’s opening of a seminar on aviation insurance that ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called investors from China’s Anhui province to invest in numerous sectors across Cambodia in an effort to spur two-way trade between the Kingdom and China in order accomplish their joint target of US$5 billion in trade by 2015. Meanwhile, Cambodia’s opposition party ...

Exactly one year after the Finance Ministry indefinitely postponed its last top-level meeting with the international aid donors, there is still no sign that the government is ready to set a new date to engage face-to-face with the country’s development partners. The forum is held once ...

With the number of tourists visiting the country increasing rapidly, hotels are coming under strain due to lack of skilled chefs and waiters in the industry, according to hotel managers. In the first six months of 2012, international visitors reached 1.75 million, a 26.8 percent ...

The state-owned Telecom Cambodia reported a 5 percent decline in revenues in the first half of this year due to tough competition in the country’s telecommunication industry, company director general Lao Saroeun said Friday. During the January-June period this year, the firm earned a gross revenue ...

As wealthy Gulf states look to meet their food needs by investing in agriculture projects abroad, Cambodia-with its underutilized land and attractive foreign investment policies-makes a nearly perfect investment destination. But endemic corruption, land conflicts, a badly implemented economic land concession program, and an unreliable judiciary could ...

The second Cambodia International Machinery Industry Fair 2012 (CIMIF 2012) will kick off this weekend from at the Diamond Island Convention Center in an effort to promote the industry development and foreign investment in Cambodia. It will run for four days from tomorrow to August ...

Election monitoring groups are questioning the National Election Committee (NEC) recent decision to let a Phnom Penh casino fund its new multi-million dollar headquarters, a move they said would cast further doubt on the body’s independence. NagaCorp, the owner of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, NagaWorld, ...

The Cambodian government is seeking a new international border checkpoint in Preah Vihear province to link with Thailand’s Ubun province, officials say. Preah Vihear provincial governor Um Mara said officials from both countries had met to examine the possibility of opening a new international checkpoint. There ...

Authorities in Stung Treng province have confiscated some 651 pieces of “luxury timber” from three communes in Se San district over the past week in an ongoing operation to crack down on illegal logging in the area, police said. The goods were confiscated just as a ...

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ.AX) would consider selling some of its stakes in Asian banks if Australia does not ease stringent capital requirements, chief executive Mike Smith said on Wednesday. The plan raises questions about how Australia’s smallest ‘Big Four’ bank will meet the ...

The stabilisation of the riel over the first half of this year is a reflection of increased confidence in using riel in the economy as well as improvements in the agricultural sector, according to economists and the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). The slowdown in the US economy ...

In a bid to ease the collection of the recently introduced tax on properties worth more than $25,000, The Ministry of Finance has launched an online service to help people get the forms they need to pay the tax. In a statement released last week, the ministry said ...

Net profits at NagaCorp Ltd., owners of Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, jumped 38 percent to reach $52.4 million in the first half of 2012 compared to the same period last year, the company said in its most recent financial report. The casino generated a total ...

Latest figures show the total value of approved investment in the Kingdom declined by more than 70 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the equivalent period a year before. Economists and officials are unconcerned, however, saying that some big projects during ...

A lack of economic diversity, faith in the banking sector and slow growth in vocational training and education topped the list of concerns among economists and investors yesterday at a meeting organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government. According to data released ...

Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, NagaWorld, has agreed to build a brand-new 15-story tower for the National Election Committee (NEC) as part of its plans to invest $369 million in expanding its current operations over the next three years, an official at the casino said ...

The private sector and industry professionals were engaged yesterday in the first consultation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government in an effort to understand the factors affecting Cambodia’s economy, and ultimately determined that human capital, infrastructure, innovation and regulatory issues as the key areas ...

Delegates from the Import-Export Bank of China will visit Cambodia next week to discuss loans for the rice-processing and exporting sector, according to government officials. Son Kunthor, president of the state-owned Cambodian Rural Development Bank, said yesterday that Chinese delegates will come to study the feasibility of ...

Revenues generated from Cambodian exports to China fell by 10 percent in the first half of the year, according to figures released by the Ministry of Commerce last week. About $60 million worth of goods were exported from Cambodia to China between January and June, the ...

$500-million loan from New Delhi to help build 3,200km highway through Myanmar and linking to Thailand The trilateral highway project will allow freight and container trucks to move across the borders from India to Myanmar and Thailand via Chiang Rai and border towns. It will play ...

The Cambodian governemnt is lobbying the tourism sector to focus more on using local foods, which it says could generate millions of dollars in revenue a year. But hotels and restaurants say quality standards and supplies of local products are often not adequate and businesses ...