Economy and commerce
Banking and financial services
Koomkin bank takes Camko City to court
The foreign commercial arbitration case between South Korean Kookmin Bank and World City Asset Management and World City, two real-estate development firms, has been received by the Cambodian Court of Appeals. World City Asset Management received a loan from Kookmin bank in Korea in 2007 to ...
Changing a culture of impunity
Despite the recent spate of high-profile arrests and deportations, analysts, attorneys and civil society groups are divided on whether the Kingdom is finally beginning to live down its reputation as a haven for the fugitives and criminals who have long been drawn to the country ...
Microfinance: an insider's view
The story of Cambodia’s microfinance sector has been one of successful evolution, evidenced by the growing number of lenders and their continual development. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) started as NGO-like entities, but the industry has come a long way. Today, there are 32 MFIs licensed ...
Cambodia Asks China to Fund Power Cables
Two weeks after Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from China with more than half a billion dollars in new loans and grants, Cambodia once again asked Beijing for money on Thursday. In a bilateral discussion held alongside this week’s series of meetings between Asean energy ministers, ...
CIMBT expands intra-Asean ATM service
CIMB Bank Thai (CIMBT) clients will one day able to use ATMs for financial transactions anywhere in Asean. The regional linkage of ATMs is aimed at improving service and cost efficiency as a part of the CIMB Group’s regional strategy. Executive vice-president Dusanee Klewpatinontha said Cambodia has ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/312275/cimbt-expands-intra-asean-atm-service
Come floods or high waters, most MFIs continue to loan
After experiencing decades of floods, Cambodia’s microfinance institutions say they no longer have problems disbursing loans during the rainy season, according to the head of Cambodia’s Microfinance Association (CMA). A survey issued early this year by a coterie of international aid organisations, including Oxfam, Care, PACT ...
Cambodia Says No Strings Attached in Recent Chinese Aid
China has done a lot to support Cambodia over the years, with millions of dollars in aid, loans and investment. But after reports last week that China has pledged another $500 million in soft loans and grants-and publicly thanked Cambodia for its support in Southeast ...
Acleda takes out $10 Million
Acleda Bank has signed a $US10 million loan agreement with Proparco, a development finance institution held in part by the Agence Francaise de Développement (AFD), according to a statement released on Wednesday. With the Kingdom’s financial sector expanding rapidly and a growing demand for banking and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090758553/Business/acleda-takes-out-10m-loan.html
Officials deny arrest has links to new loans
The rumour mill has been in overdrive regarding the arrest of The Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg; however, various government officials yesterday shunned the conspiracy theories. Tom Abrahamsson, head of administrative and consular matters at the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh, refuted speculation that Svartholm ...
Locals bypass road projects
As much as local people are benefiting from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) recovery project following last year’s record floods, they aren’t receiving all the benefits they could, according to some accounts. Operating in five provinces of Cambodia to restore road access to those affected by the floods, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090658527/Business/locals-bypass-adb-road-projects.html
Soft loan from Sweden
Sweden loaned Cambodia US$57 million yesterday for economic country development and cooperation for the duration of 2012-2013. The agreement was made between Cambodia’s Economic Minister Keat Chhon and Swedish ambassador to Cambodia Anne Hoglund at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) yesterday morning. Keat Chhon ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090658528/Business/soft-loan-from-sweden.html
Insurance urged for CSX listings
The Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday urged companies intending to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) to buy insurance to bolster public confidence. Vice President Bo Chanpiro of the Financial Industry Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said the finance sector relies not only ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090658524/Business/insurance-urged-for-csx-listings.html
Laos, Cambodia set for more listings
Private companies and state enterprises are expected to raise large amounts of funds via the stock exchanges in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia over the next several years. More private firms will list on the Cambodian and Laotian bourses next year, their executives told media yesterday at ...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Laos-Cambodia-set-for-more-listings-30189439.html
ADB has a long road ahead after big flood
A breached flood protection dyke near Prey Ven city that, had it burst during the disastrous 2011 flooding, would have added a further 30,000 to the almost 52,000 households evacuated, is one project nearing completion in Cambodia’s Flood Damage Emergency Reconstruction Project. But the Asian Development ...
China Gives $523M, Thanks Cambodia for Asean Help
Prime Minister Hun Sen returned home yesterday from a quick trip to Beijing with the promise of some $523 million in new loans and grants, one day after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jabao praised Cambodia for helping China maintain “friendly relations” with Asean. Speaking with ...
Chinese Credit Cache
Prime Minister Hun Sen has returned home from his trip to China a wealthier leader having secured upwards of US$2.5 billion in Chinese investment and loans over the next year alone, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The package includes a $2 billion ...
China gives Cambodia aid and thanks for ASEAN help
China has pledged more than $500 million in soft loans and grants to Cambodia and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao thanked it for helping Beijing maintain good relations with the regional grouping ASEAN, a Cambodian junior minister said. A summit of the 10 members of the Association ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/04/cambodia-china-idUSL4E8K41I320120904
National Payments System to Begin in 2012
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) will soon begin a national payment system that will allow the clearance of checks at all banks within a day, as well as facilitate intra-bank electronic payments, Nguon Sokha, director general of the NBC, said yesterday. Through the establishment of the national ...
$70 from India for power
India is financing the construction of a US$70 million transmission line to bring electricity from hydroelectric projects in Laos to Cambodia, according to Indian Chamber of Commerce President Debasish Pattnaik. Speaking yesterday after the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (ICC), Pattnaik ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012090358436/Business/70m-from-india-for-power.html
US firms suggest ASEAN improve financial services
Although US businesses across ASEAN have expressed a positive investment outlook towards Cambodia and the other members of the regional group, they are unsure of how to take advantage of the free-trade agreement with China, insiders said at the first-ever ASEAN-US Business Summit, which kicked ...
Prasac borrows $1.5m from German company
Assets of Cambodian Microfinance Institution Prasac reached US$210 million with the combination of newly borrowed $15 million from Germany’s Deg-Deutsche Investitions Und Entwicklungsellschaft Mbh (DEG), officials said during the signing ceremony. The seven-year agreement at an annual interest rate of 5.5 per cent would help Prasac ...
Camko City restarts after one-year hiatus
Construction at Camko City, an unfinished, US$2 billion satellite city in northwestern Phnom Penh, has resumed after at least one sentence connecting the mega-project’s chief executive with a Korean banking scandal was dropped. , the company behind Camko City, has resumed the construction of retail space ...
Tougher disclosure rules for resources giants
US-listed corporations in Cambodia, including Chevron, Total, CNOOC and ConocoPhillips, that are engaged in extractive industries are now required to comply with additional transparency rules. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) implemented new regulations last week, two years after the legislation was initially passed by Congress. Cambodian monitors ...
Sumimoto Mitsui sins agreement with Acleda
One of Japan’s biggest banks, Sumimoto Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) signed agreement with Acleda Bank to share market data and banking services. The deal will give Japanese investors information on the economy and offer other banking services and is aimed at improving bilateral trade and investment. The deal would ...