National government

The government yesterday significantly upped the garment and footwear sector’s minimum wage to $170 a month, from $153, the highest increase in wages in the past two years and one that comes ahead of a crucial national election next July. ...

The Transport Ministry seized 642 overloaded trucks throughout the country and leveraged fines worth more than $250,000 last month. The ministry issued a report on Wednesday, saying it had seized 642 overloaded trucks nationwide and issued fines totaling $267,627 during the month. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday announced that the government plans to extend the retirement age for teachers by five years to 65-years-old in order to maintain stability in the number of teachers. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said the government will take over management of a bridge built over the Tonle Sap River by the firm belonging tycoon senator Ly Yong Phat. ...

On the same day that Prime Minister Hun Sen gave a speech touting salary increases for teachers ahead of next year’s national election, about 20 Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) members were blocked from having a peaceful demonstration seeking just that. ...

German development agency GIZ held a consultation workshop in Phnom Penh yesterday for its two-year Facilitating Trade in Agricultural Goods in Asean (FTAG) initiative, holding discussions with Ministry of Agriculture officials and local traders aimed at identifying the most suitable fruit and vegetable crops for ...

About 5,000 people have been arrested for drug use and trafficking since July in the second phase of an ongoing controversial drug crackdown, bringing the total number of arrestees this year to almost 13,700 people. ...

The Cambodian Youth Party (CYP) filed a complaint to the Ministry of Interior yesterday requesting the dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, as the royalist party Funcinpec reaffirmed its commitment to do the same. ...

​Even as he expressed condolences for the mass shooting in Las Vegas on Sunday that left 59 people dead, Prime Minister Hun Sen appeared yesterday to suggest that the incident was a kind of cosmic rebuke following American warnings to its citizens about safety in ...

The Ministry of Interior is moving forward with a plan to revoke official documents from 70,000 individuals living in Cambodia, claiming they were “improperly” issued and mistakenly confer citizenship on “immigrants” – many of whom are ethnic Vietnamese born in Cambodia. ...

As an agreement on railway transportation materialises, Cambodia and Thailand are set to hold a ceremony early next year to celebrate the official opening of the line that will connect Phnom Penh and Bangkok, a representative of the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MPWT) ...

More than 500 dead Cambodians were repatriated from Thailand in the first six months of 2017, according to an Interior Ministry official. Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state at the ministry, said yesterday the 500 bodies were repatriated through three checkpoints in Banteay Meanchey province. ...

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 ...