Economy and commerce

Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the government’s plan for Strung Treng province’s 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam project in a letter to an SRP lawmaker, and accused opposition parties, NGOs and the media of exaggerating the negative impacts of hydropower dams. In the six-page letter ...

Émile Coué was a French psychologist who introduced a method of self-improvement based on optimistic autosuggestion. “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better,” was his mantra. He died in 1926 and probably never visited Cambodia, but his spirit has been hovering over ...

While the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) recently opened its doors for business, it’s not quite ready to actually do business. As it currently stands, there is no actual trade taking place, making it the smallest bourse in the world in terms of market capitalization. However, ...

The issue of using land titles to encourage banks to boost their lending to the agriculture sector was raised at the “Empower Your Business: Riding on Cambodia’s Growth” seminar in Phnom Penh on July 21. “Seventy percent of the population is undertaking agriculture as their ...

Cambodia has officially opened a stock exchange, which economists say will provide a chance for the development of the country and job creation. However, they warn that mismanagement of the bourse could also lead to economic woes. “When this stock market goes well, it will ...

Southeast Asia needs to push ahead with a regional free trade bloc and policies to cope with global financial crises, Indonesia’s government said yesterday. Indonesia’s Vice President Boediono, addressing trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it was evident since the ...

Authorities are planning upgrades to effectively double the capacity of boats travelling from Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to Vietnam, according to port Director General Hei Bavy. A 2009 agreement with Vietnam authorities allows ships travelling down the Mekong from Cambodia to offload at Cai Mep ...

In the latest government backed appropriation of protected land, nearly 20,000 hectares of the Boeung Per wildlife sanctuary have been reclassified as state private land for agro-industrial development. Two sub-decrees, obtained by The Post this week and initialed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on July ...

The Bank of India will move to a larger location on Norodom Boulevard, aiming to attract increased business from both Cambodian and Indian clients, said Chief Manager Sripada Rao. The Mumbai, India-based bank first opened in the Kingdom in 2009 headquartered on the capital’s Monivong ...

Cambodia saw significant percentage gains in regional trade in the first six months of the year, though the gap between imports and exports remained large, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Commerce. According to the figures, the country saw regional exports to ...

Ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat has defied an order endorsed by the Prime Minster to halt his controversial sand dredging activities on the Tatai river in Koh Kong, prompting authorities to request intervention, documents obtained by The Post reveal. The dredging operation on the ...

THE government expressed disappointment yesterday with the World Bank’s announcement that it had halted new country loans due to the ongoing land dispute at Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh and vowed to raise the issue with the bank’s executive board. “We are very dissatisfied ...

The government has brought into force a new law that makes all illegal payments to officials punishable by up to 15 years in jail for those who accept such payments and up to 10 years for those who make payments. Im Oudom, a member of ...

Government officials yesterday dismissed the World Bank’s recently revealed decision to freeze funding for new projects in Cambodia to protest a Phnom Penh real estate project that has forced thousand of families out of their homes. A housing rights group closely following the evictions said ...

Vietnamese rice exporters will face tough competition from foreign countries looking to exploit advantages that Cambodia presents as a beneficiary of the the EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative, says an Econet report. Under the EBA, Cambodia, as a least-developed-country, enjoys zero tariffs and no quotas ...

PROMINENT businessman Kith Meng was re-elected unopposed yesterday as president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Kith Meng, the only contender who declared his candidacy for the three-year mandate, received support from all 11 candidates eligible to stand. Kith Meng, who is also chairman and chief ...

The Ministry of Planning yesterday released the preliminary results of the 2011 economic census, which found that Cambodia has a total of 503,008 businesses nationwide, of which nearly 20 percent are based in Phnom Penh. The census, which began on March 1 and was financed ...

Outstanding loans among micro-credit institutions increased by 6.7 percent to $505.46 million in the second quarter of this year compared to the first quarter, figures from the Cambodia Microfinance Association show. According to the data, deposits held by Cambodia’s 27 microlenders grew by 33.2 percent ...

The Cambodia Chamber of Commerce re-elected Royal Group chairman Kith Meng for his second three-year term as president yesterday. The presidents of 11 provincial chambers of commerce voted for Mr Meng, who is also president of the Phnom Penh Chamber of Commerce. ...

The World Bank has frozen funding to Cambodia, making good on its threat in March to reconsider aid levels to Cambodia in response to the ongoing eviction of thousands of Phnom Penh families from Boeng Kak lake, a Bank official confirmed yesterdaySome 3,000 families have ...

The World Bank said on Tuesday it had stopped providing loans to Cambodia and would not resume lending until the government did something to help hundreds of families facing eviction from land around a lake in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh. “The World Bank’s last ...

SOURSDEY Fashion occupies a small shopfront near the Russian Market. It looks similar to many of the small boutiques sprouting up across Phnom Penh, packed with  the latest in fashion aimed at young, trendy consumers. But the shop’s business plan differs from that of many ...

CAMBODIA’S trade with South Korea grew 38 percent in the first half of 2011 on the same period last year, according to Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KORTA) statistics. The growth is partly due to increasing numbers of South Korean importers seeking business in Cambodia, KOTRA’s ...

Cambodia on July 28th hosted the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub- Region Environment Ministers to look forward to sustainable economic development in the region and to talk about current projects to reduce harm for regions and also to minimize several environmental challenges affecting natural resources, forest and ...