Aid and development
Multilateral development assistance
Further JICA Support Hinges On Fertilizer Scandal
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that its future support of agricultural development in Cambodia depends on the outcome of an investigation into a provincial official accused of embezzling funds from JICA-donated fertilizer. The accused, deputy bureau chief of Battambang’s department of agriculture Seng ...
Matt Blomberg and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/further-jica-support-hinges-on-fertilizer-scandal-42143/
New Project Aims to Help Small Businesses in Cambodia
A new project by the government and Japan’s aid agency seeks to assist small companies in Cambodia that are in need of specialist advice in order to develop and keep up with competitors in neighboring Asean countries. The aim of the two-year program, called “Strategic Strengthening ...
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia-41534/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia
Government, ADB Differ on Rail Project
The government claims to have finished nearly a third of the work needed to rehabilitate the long-dilapidated railway line from Phnom Penh to the Thai border at Poipet, twice the figure reported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the main financier of the over-budget and ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-adb-differ-on-rail-project-41263/
Cambodian police trained to fight money laundering, terror financing
With an aim of facing the growing challenge in Southeast Asia concerning money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has stepped in to provide Cambodian police with skills in order to curb this threat, according to a statement ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130826/cambodian-police-trained-fight-money-laundering-terror
Cambodia expects double growth in rice exports this year: minister
Cambodia was expected to export as much as 400,000 tons of milled rice in 2013 thanks to rising demand on international markets and the country’s efforts in developing rice industry, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Tuesday. “We project that Cambodia can export up to 400,000 tons ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/27/c_132667860.htm
ADB lends 70 mln USD to Cambodia for rice commercialization, finance reforms
The Government of Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed loan agreements worth $70 million to expand the country’s rice sector and promote reforms in the finance sector, an ADB’s statement said. Signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon ...
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/806367.shtml#.UhsAYtKBmN8
Initiative Encourages Private Rural Investment
Representatives from more than 90 Cambodian businesses gathered yesterday at the Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh to hear about a new initiative that aims to encourage private sector investment in agriculture. The $55.6 million project is an extension of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/initiative-encourages-private-rural-investment-37899/
Cambodia predicts 7.6 percent GDP growth in 2013
Cambodia’s economy would grow by 7.6 percent this year, driven by garment exports, agriculture, tourism and construction, according to a preliminary prediction by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday. The ministry said that the GDP volume would be around 15.19 billion U.S. dollars and ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-07/24/c_132570724.htm
New Boeng Kak Group Petitions World Bank
About 30 former residents of the Boeng Kak community submitted a petition on Friday morning to the World Bank office and several embassies in Phnom Penh, calling for a halt to all funding for longtime anti-eviction protesters from the Boeng Kak area. The Boeng Kak counter-protesters ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-boeng-kak-group-petitions-world-bank-33746/
ADB to loan $55 million to Cambodia's rice sector
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $55 million to help transform the rice sector of Cambodia into a viable commercial industry as well as taking care of the land and water resources. ADB’s Climate-Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development Program―which will run ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ZjI4NDZjMzFlMmE
Hor Namhong Asks for More Cash for Rail Project
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong made another appeal to Australia for additional funds to complete a behind-schedule project to rehabilitate the country’s railway network, this time to newly appointed Australian Ambassador Alison Burrows, according to a ministry spokesman. While work on the Southern Line of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hor-namhong-asks-for-more-cash-for-rail-project-30272/
Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a ...
ADB Says Hydropower Growth Won’t Match Need for Oil, Coal
Cambodia’s reliance on imported fossil fuels to meet its energy needs is set to increase in the coming years, despite the raft of hydropower projects planned by the government, according to new data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Using baseline figures from the Institute ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-says-hydropower-growth-wont-match-need-for-oil-coal-28794/
ADB advises region to combine grids
Cambodia is expected to be able to produce about half the energy it needs by 2035, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but the Kingdom – along with its neighbours – should also consider integrating their energy grids, which would bring about more competitive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053165966/Business/adb-advises-region-to-combine-grids.html
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached. Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html
ADB supports integration of regional energy systems
Countries in the Greater Mekong Sub-region can save US$14 billion over the next 20 years if they integrate their power transmission systems, according to a senior official from the Asian Development Bank. A regional power grid connection would enable countries with hydro-power plants to export energy ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZGE3NWI5YWNjYTV
World Bank Blocks Firm After Cambodia Project Probe
A bribery investigation by the World Bank has discovered misconduct by a major Canadian construction firm that was awarded a $5 million contract to help expand access to electricity in rural Cambodia, the bank said. In December 2009, SNC-Lavalin announced that it has been awarded ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-blocks-firm-after-cambodia-project-probe-19199/
Bids called on Cambodia rail link
The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) will call an e-auction on April 10 on work to renovate damaged tracks connecting Thailand with Cambodia at the Aranyaprathet-Poipet crossing, Transport Minister Chadchat Suttipan said on Tuesday. The railway agency estimated the project will cost 2.8 billion baht. ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/343563/thailand-to-open-bid-to-rebuild-tracks-with-cambodia
ADB praises Cambodia for public debt management
Eric Sidgwick, Country director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Cambodia applauded Cambodia for managing it’s, sometimes problematic, public debts. During the Wednesday meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Sok An, Eric Sidgwick said, good management led to the positive changes of donations and ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NDQ1NmJhNTk1M2V
ADB Smothers Report On Families Hit by Rail Project
The Asian Development Bank has refused to release a critical study on the impacts its $141.6 million railway project is having on thousands of Cambodian families because disclosure of the report could hurt its relationship with the government, an ADB spokeswoman said. Raising concerns about the ...
Millers need greater access to credit: Govt
The Ministry of Commerce and bank officials announced yesterday that they will hold a meeting next month aimed at better facilitating rice millers’ access to credit. The move is part of the Asian Development Bank’s Climate Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development program to address food security ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031161863/Business/millers-need-greater-access-to-credit-govt.html
World Bank’s Boeng Kak Failure Cited in UN Report
The U.N.’s expert on housing rights has cited the World Bank’s failure to help thousands of families evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood as a prime example of why the bank needs to make human rights a focus of its land sector programs worldwide. At ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-banks-boeng-kak-failure-cited-in-un-report-14120/
Government Has 13 Payment Guarantees for Energy Projects
A CPP lawmaker said yesterday the government has signed 13 payment guarantees to companies constructing coal-fired power plants and hydropower dams in the country, a move that an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official reiterated was risky for the country’s fiscal future. CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-has-13-payment-guarantees-for-energy-projects-11377/
Regional Bank, IMF Note Risks to Government's Dam Guarantee
The government’s guaranteed bailout of major infrastructure projects, such as the future 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng province, requires a thorough assessment of forecasted risks – a capacity which the government currently does not possess, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said yesterday. Speaking on ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/regional-bank-imf-note-risks-to-governments-dam-guarantee-11269/