Economy and commerce

The number of new businesses that registered in the first eight months of the year increased 33% to 2,105 compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. Officials said that many of the registrations between January and ...

Cambodia’s economic growth could surpass previous estimates and hit 8.7% this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech yesterday. Earlier government forecasts estimated growth of 6% for 2011, though increasing garment exports and a strong recovery in the tourism sector have stimulated the economy ...

Cambodian rice is due to be exported to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the end of this year after Cambodia’s rice exporters participate in the Rice International Conference and Exhibition (RICE) 2011, which will be held on November 3-5 in Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, UAE In ...

In 2012, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar will begin to implement a multimodal transport operations project in order to strengthen the ASEAN regional cross-border transport corridors and promote regional and transport development toward the ASEAN-community integration in 2015, senior officials said this week ...

BANGKOK – The Pheu Thai-led coalition government’s planned 300 baht daily minimum wage hike has forced some businesses to shift their production bases to areas bordering Cambodia and Myanmar, the Employers’ Confederation of Thailand (ECOT) told a seminar on Monday. At a seminar on implementing the ...

ABF Freight System Inc. on Monday announced it had opened offices in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka. The locations are in addition to ABF offices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, ABF said in a ...

In the fulfillment of a 2009 pact made between the US and Cambodia to reduce the risk of terrorist activity, the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced on Thursday that it had installed radiation detection equipment at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port. With the new equipment, the port ...

The Arbitration Council has ordered more than 700 workers at the Wei Xin garment factory to end a week-long strike they have staged in protest against a spate of issues they have with the company over contracts and payment. A decision handed down on Saturday by ...

The US House of Representatives has renewed a trade law experts said could have a substantial effect on Cambodia’s exports to the United States, as well as the future of the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program waived tariffs on about US$13 ...

responsAbility Social Investments AG, a Swiss for-profit company that operates four microfinance investment vehicles (MIVs), recently reported to MicroCapital that it has invested USD 13.5 million in microfinance institutions (MFIs) Equity Bank of Kenya and VisionFund Cambodia. The investments have been made through three MIVs: ...

A group of independent trade unions yesterday put forth a list of demands for changes to Cambodia’s first trade union law, which will be finalised by the government in the coming months. Unionists said the revisions were necessary, as the current draft law would undermine unions ...

Cambodian garment and textile exports increased nearly 20 per cent in the first eight months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to Ministry of Commerce figures. The Kingdom exported US$2.35 billion in garments during the period, a 19.6 per cent increase over ...

At least 24 international apparel brands have pledged to immediately investigate the mass fainting “phenomenon” that has hit the Cambodian garment factories that supply them, the International Labour Organisation says. Executives of global brands had pledged to work together “to determine the precise causes of incidences ...

The National Bank of Cambodia was pushing microfinance institutions to look to domestic banks for funding in an industry heavily reliant on foreign loans, experts said yesterday. Although the NBC is seeking to foster healthier relationships between MFIs and the Kingdom’s commercial banks, a dearth of ...

Mount Borkor Resort, the highest location in Cambodia, located near the coastline, will be inaugurated to welcome tourists from all destinations by the end of 2011, while the road climbing to the plateau’s peak and other tourism structures are about to be completed So far, the ...

A mining company owned by the wife of RCAF Major General Nim Meng has been ordered by the government to pay fines and unpaid taxes after the firm was found to have illegally exported minerals from Cambodia, a report released yesterday by the Cambodian Investment ...

Cambodia approved $1.2 billion in investments from China in the first six months of the year, a 104 percent increase in the amount of Chinese money set to flood into the economy compared to the same period last year, the Cambodian Investment Board said. The ...

Cambodian mobile operators added more than 1 million new subscribers between May and July, with Smart Mobile seeing the largest percentage increase for the period, according to Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications figures obtained by the Post. Marc Einstein, a Tokyo-based analyst at research and ...

A delegation of more than 30 Japanese businesspeople yesterday met with the Council for the Development of Cambodia to discuss investment opportunities in the Kingdom, after seeing what they said were vast improvements in domestic legal and tax regulations.  However, no definite decisions had yet ...

Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh yesterday called on the US to allow duty-free entry for Cambodian exports, a benefit the Kingdom already enjoyed with the European Union. The introduction of preferential tax treatment from the US would result in the Kingdom’s share of that country’s ...

The government yesterday lashed out at a letter sent by opposition lawmakers to the World Bank that urged the bank to increase pressure on the government to end forced evictions, land grabbing and threats against community members involved in land disputes with well-connected companies. Council ...

As prices continue to climb for freshwater lobster, farming of the crustacean in Cambodia is increasing. A kilogram of top-quality lobster sells for about US$30, up from $10 in 2005, according to lobster farmers. The government is seeking to foster new growth in Cambodia’s wild ...

The Phnom Penh Autonomous Port will transfer 75 per cent of its loading capacity to a new location at Kandal  to better handle the increased shipments passing through the capital, according to PPAP officials. The PPAP had received US$68 mill-ion in financing from the Chinese ...

The biggest names in the apparel industry, including Nike, Puma and Gap, would meet today with officials from the Ministry of Labour to discuss issues plaguing the Cambodian garment manufacturing industry, such as mass fainting and contractual disputes, labour activists said yesterday.  Dave Welsh, country ...