Ministries and other national bodies

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries yesterday announced the establishment of two community forest areas over 4,500 hectares in Kampong Thom province’s Santuk district. ...

The government has borrowed $732.06 million in the form of concessional loans from development partners (DPs), amounting to 74.83 percent of the debt ceiling of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) approved by the National Assembly last year, according to the latest report on Cambodia’s public debt. ...

Government officials yesterday destroyed more than 80 tonnes of counterfeit chemical products, chief among them hazardous skin-whitening creams and knock-off Viagra pills.​ ...

More than 300 families in Banteay Meanchey province’s Malai district were evacuated yesterday after their houses were inundated by floods. Other provinces were also affected by flooding as a low-pressure weather system crosses the country. ...

Commercial lenders have said the central bank’s requirement that banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) increase the share of local currency in their loan portfolio to at least 10 percent by the end of 2019 could prove challenging to implement as their biggest clients exhibit a ...

A deputy commander in the Chinese navy has praised Cambodia for supporting Beijing’s negotiations on issues in the South China Sea and the One-China stance on world affairs. ...

The Interior Minister yesterday decided to delete 22 political parties from its official register ahead of the national election next year. According to a letter signed by Interior Minister Sar Kheng, the parties are being dissolved in line with recent amendments to the Law on Political ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen scolded Cambodians for complaining about pesticides contaminating their vegetables during a one-hour speech in Siem Reap yesterday, stating that the solution is simply not to buy contaminated vegetables. ...

The Transport Minister has asked all transport companies to instruct their drivers not to use drugs and to stick anti-drug stickers on their trucks as part of a ministry campaign to curb drug use in the industry. ...

Union negotiators on the minimum wage for garment, textile and footwear workers have lowered their claim from $176.26 per month to $175 while the employers have increased their offer from $161 to $161.50. ...

Cambodia slid further down the rankings of global competitiveness on this year’s Global Competitiveness Report, which showed the Kingdom dropping five notches on the annual index to hold its position as the second least competitive country in Asean after Laos. ...

Cambodia and Bangladesh have finalised terms on a massive rice deal that could see up to 1 million tonnes of rice purchased from the Kingdom over the next five years, with the first shipment due to begin by November, a source close to the deal ...

The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) will begin removal next week of two chemical bombs found in Svay Rieng in January, as Prime Minister Hun Sen again took aim yesterday at the United States for allegedly not shouldering the burden of its war legacy. ...

Representatives for 15 families involved in a long-standing land dispute in Koh Kong province complained that authorities failed to find a resolution for them, despite providing compensation for 170 other families in the same area. ...

A senoir Justice Ministry official said a pilot project to increase bail approvals and community service sentencing for small-time offenders would be impossible, weeks after the project was announced during the visit of a United Nations human rights official. ...

Cambodia’s foreign minister last week launched a scathing attack on Western democracies, labeling them hypocritical and only interested in promoting human rights and democracy when it was in their own self-interest. ...

The Ministry of Interior yesterday ordered the temporary suspension of land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia for allegedly violating its own by-laws and the controversial law regulating NGOs passed in 2015. ...

Financial literacy as a school subject to increase students’ knowledge about money will be introduced nationwide through the first phase of the Cambodian School Curriculum Project, with the Ministry of Education collaborating with the National Bank of Cambodia, Asian Development Bank, Good Return and the ...

The Ministry of Interior yesterday launched its new television station NICE TV that will focus on broadcasts related to crime crackdowns and government achievements. NICE TV is a joint establishment between the Ministry of Interior and a Chinese firm, NICE Culture Investment Group. ...

Just two days after they first went up, some of the Cambodia National Rescue Party banners demanding the release of jailed party leader Kem Sokha are already coming down amid government objections. ...

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the People’s Bank of China in the autonomous Guangxi region of southern China have launched an official yuan-riel exchange rate that allows businesses and individuals to conduct trade settlement activities without using the US dollar as an intermediary ...

The government through the Ministry of Tourism is set to give a major boost to the country’s tourism sector to bolster the economy, said Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday. ...

The central bank announced yesterday that it was close to finalising a new academic curriculum to promote financial literacy with the aim of incorporating it into schools nationwide by the start of the 2019 academic year. ...

Employers must allow all Muslim women to wear headscarves and traditional clothing to work, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. Addressing workers in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district, Mr Hun Sen said he met Muslim women on a recent visit to Kampong Cham, who told him they ...