Economy and commerce

More than 60 Cambodian and international human rights groups and trade unions yesterday called on Cambodia and Malaysia to reach a bilateral agreement that would guarantee strong labor rights and working conditions for Cambodian maids employed in Malaysia. “The time is ripe for the Cambodian ...

Koh Kong villagers facing the loss of their land to a Chinese mega-tourism project held a news conference in Phnom Penh yesterday to appeal to the government for the right to remain on their property. Kith Ten, 54, from Kiri Sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune, ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow 6.5 per cent in 2012, up from 5.75 per cent last year, the International Monetary Fund said in its annual review, adding that government policies to boost the investment climate were paying off. However, in its assessment, which was released ...

The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) will begin taking bids from investors tomorrow in order to determine the price and number of shares it will issue during its long-awaited initial public offering on Cambodia’s stock exchange, the company’s general director said yesterday. Investors will ...

Trading on the Cambodian Securities Exchange should begin at the end of March as the Kingdom’s first stock, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, prepares to consult and share information with potential investors this week. The company would host a “roadshow” for investors in anticipation of its ...

About 1,000 workers returned to work at Kompong Cham province’s Manhattan Quing Dao Textile Corp yesterday after last week’s four-day protest, factory representatives said. Chan Seiha, the factory’s administration chief, said that the remaining 1,000 workers were not at work yesterday because the factory currently ...

The government has ordered all state institutions to start compiling a list of prices for all fee-based services so that individuals and companies can avoid informal payments, which were made illegal under the penal code last year, spokesman for the Council of Ministers Phay Siphan ...

The Ministry of Health, with support from the United States, yesterday launched a national public outreach campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of counterfeit and substandard drugs, which officials said posed a “serious threat” to public health. The campaign features a poster with the slogan, ...

Representatives from five communes in Koh Kong province are scheduled to hold a press conference in the capital today, appealing for government intervention in a land dispute with a Chinese development company that has spanned nearly four years. Lov Hov, a representative from Thmar Sar commune, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said all of the country’s cities would compete with each other to beautify urban zones and attract more tourists in the newly devised Clean City contest. Nine Phnom Penh districts and 26 cities nationwide will be assessed on how clean ...

The government wants to beautify Cambodian cities and has launched a competition to encourage the country’s urban centres to clean up their act. Speaking in front of a crowd of roughly 700 at the Peace Palace yesterday, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that the “Clean ...

Echoing remarks made by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier last week, economic experts agreed that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita would reach US$ 1,000 ( Bt30,377) this year, up from the estimated $900 at the end of 2011. Managing director of Acleda ...

Government officials remained tight-lipped yesterday about progress in their investigation of the Feb. 20 shooting of three female garment workers during a strike and demonstration in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet city. On Feb 20, three women were wounded when a uniformed gunman opened fire at ...

Inflation in Cambodia rose 5.8 per cent year-on-year in January, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics. Rising fuel costs had spurred the inflation, which was felt largely in the price of food, officials said. Data showed food and non-alcoholic beverage prices in January increased ...

The government of China on Monday delivered office supplies and equipment worth $403,000 to Cambodia in order to ease the country’s burden when it hosts the ASEAN summit and related Summits this year. The office supplies and equipment included 200 sets of desktops, 60 sets of ...

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have decided not to investigate the Australian mining company OZ Minerals, saying information that the firm paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to family members of officials in the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (Mime) when buying out its ...

After four days of protests, which at times grew violent, striking garment workers at the Manhattan Qing Dao Textile Corp in Kompong Cham province said they would be resuming work Monday after reaching a tentative agreement with the company. On Thursday, more than 1000 workers ...

A Thai Company is conducting a feasibility study to build a coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province and has already invested in a local firm with permission to develop the plant, according to officials and the company. In an announcement to the Thai Stock ...

Security footage of a shooting outside a shoe factory on Monday that left three protestors in hospital has been reviewed by police, the head of the special economic zone where the incident took place said yesterday. The three women were shot at a violent protest of ...

Eight fishermen who escaped after more than a year of forced labour aboard a Thai fishing boat recounted tales of abuse and miserable working conditions upon their repatriation to the Kingdom yesterday. The men said that brokers had promised them salaried jobs in Thai factories, but ...

The government has agreed to create a regulatory body to ensure that companies operating in Cambodia’s telecommunications sector follow regulations and that companies that do not comply are held to account. According to a statement from the Council of Ministers, Prime Minister Hun Sen approved ...

NagaCorp, which owns Phnom Penh’s only licensed casino, announced on Wednesday that net profits at the company had more than doubled in 2011 and that plans are in store to expand its operations in the country. Financial Results filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ...

Garment-making has been a mainstay of Cambodia’s fledgling economy, chalking up between 6 and 7 percent annually for the past four years. But, the country is turning its focus back to the land in the hope that rice growing and other farming produce, will lift growth ...

More than 1500 factory workers yesterday marched from the Manhattan Quing Dao Textiles Corp in Kompong Cham province to the provincial headquarters to ask authorities to force the factory owner to abide by two arbitration council rulings, a union representative and a factory worker said ...