Economy and commerce
Economic policy and administration
Cambodia revising gambling laws to attract investment
The Cambodian government is in the process of amending its gaming laws in a bid to draw major casino operators, industry sources have confirmed to GGRAsia. Earlier on Tuesday, the Phnom Penh Post reported that the new draft of the national casino law could be finalised ...
GGRAsia News Staff
http://www.ggrasia.com/cambodia-revising-gambling-laws-to-attract-investment/
Gambling on change
The Cambodian government is drafting a series of changes to the Kingdom’s gaming laws in a bid to draw major players from Macau and the US to the market and potentially create a new tax base from the growing, if currently illegal, online betting industry, ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gambling-change
Six unions call for pay, acquittals
Union leaders made another appeal for the Cambodian government to raise the minimum wage to $160 and rescind convictions of 25 workers arrested during deadly demonstrations in November and January. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-unions-call-pay-acquittals
Aid, Aeon on agenda for Japan
The Japanese government will offer more than $21 million in grant aid and loans to Cambodia when Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visits later this month, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the statement, Kishida will ink a number of ...
Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/aid-aeon-agenda-japan
South Korean bank buys local MFI
South Korea-based Woori Bank has purchased Cambodian microfinance institution Malis Finance for $4.9 million. Hun Soopheak, general manager of Malis Finance, said the deal was finalised two weeks ago; however, the firm is still awaiting approval from Cambodian regulators. ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/south-korean-bank-buys-local-mfi
Arbitration’s cost and value
The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/arbitration%E2%80%99s-cost-and-value
Workers block gates, burn tires at Japanese-owned box factory
About 80 workers protesting against a Japanese factory in Phnom Penh that produces cardboard boxes blocked the gates Friday after managers refused to hold a meeting with employees. Workers burned tires in front of the Harta Packaging factory, which they have been protesting against since February, ...
Chinese firm acquires large stake in Kampot $100m cement factory
Chinese firm Huaxin Cement Co has purchased a 40 per cent stake in Cambodia Cement Chakrey Ting Factory Co, a cement-making factory currently under construction in Kampot province. Huaxin’s $24 million investment Cambodia Cement lifted the local factory’s working capital to $60 million, up from $32 ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/chinese-firm-acquires-large-stake-kampot-100m-cement-factory
Will the World Cup hurt productivity?
Once every four years, when the FIFA World Cup rolls around, business surveys and studies are inevitably released telling us that all those hours spent watching football, thinking about football and talking about football have a tangible effect on the global economy. During the 2010 World ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/will-world-cup-hurt-productivity
Slow start for GTI as public firm
Grand Twins International (GTI) ended trading yesterday with a slight decline. The newly listed company was changing hands at 9,480 riel ($2.36) per share at the 1pm close, down from 9,640 riel ($2.40) at the morning’s opening. ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/slow-start-gti-public-firm
UN envoy meets employers over labor unrest
U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi met with representatives of the country’s businesses and employers Thursday for talks that focused on the protection of workers’ rights and measures that can be taken to ensure that strained industrial relations do not once again erupt into violence. In ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-meets-employers-over-labor-unrest-61951/
Activists call for transparency at Buddhist Institute
The activist Independent Monk Network has called on the Ministry of Cult and Religion to release paperwork proving that an agreement it struck with NagaCorp to help construct an electricity substation at Phnom Penh’s Buddhist Institute does not involve the selling of any of the ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activists-call-transparency-buddhist-institute
Supply drives office rentals to highest in region
Demand for top-quality workspace in Phnom Penh is increasing, so much so that property firm Knight Frank has labelled the capital as the fastest-growing city for rented prime office space in the entire Asia Pacific region. The firm’s June 3 quarterly report, which marks the first ...
Annie Lee
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/supply-drives-office-rentals-highest-region
Banking on technology in capital
The Cambodian finance industry is to celebrate the sixth Banking and Finance Conference a week from today, at a meeting that will focus on developing technology in the country’s financial sector. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/banking-technology-capital
Violence ‘cost economy $1.5B’
The consequences and containment of violence cost the Cambodian economy over $1.5 billion in 2013, just under 10 per cent of its estimated GDP for the period, according to the Institute for Economics & Peace’s Global Peace Index released yesterday. According to IEP executive chairman ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/violence-%E2%80%98cost-economy-15b%E2%80%99
Ad spending sees hike in budget for tourism
The Cambodian government has budgeted $3.5 million for tourism-related advertising and promotions in 2014, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said yesterday. “This year the budget has reached $3.5 million dollars, half of the total budget for the ministry as we will host PATA Travel Mart 2014,” ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ad-spending-sees-hike-budget-tourism
Acleda sets aside $39M for branch expansion
Acleda Bank has reinvested $39 million of profits back into its operations instead of paying out dividends to shareholders, an announcement on its website states. It is the 11th time Alceda has opted to increase registered capital, with the latest top-up taking the bank’s total capital ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/acleda-sets-aside-39m-branch-expansion
Rice piles up as exports slow
Lagging demand from foreign buyers has led to Cambodian rice being stockpiled at the country’s mills, according to the head of the country’s peak rice body. Sok Puthyvuth, president of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), said that with exporters receiving fewer orders, the country’s larger rice ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-piles-exports-slow
Bank pays out after factory boss ‘flees’
Workers at a garment factory that closed without warning last week received payment yesterday for nearly a month and a half of work, but some are still waiting for bonuses owed to them. More than 400 workers lined up at the Canadia Industrial Park gates, behind ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bank-pays-out-after-factory-boss-%E2%80%98flees%E2%80%99
Gov’t continues to seek new markets
The Ministry of Commerce has vowed to uncover more markets for Cambodian products to help buffer against price fluctuations caused by the Kingdom’s dependency on neighboring countries. In a response to concerns raised on social media, Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol wrote on the ministry’s official Facebook ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gov%E2%80%99t-continues-seek-new-markets
Wage group agrees on January 1 raises
The group in charge of determining the national minimum wage for the garment sector yesterday agreed to increase salaries annually on January 1, determined by discussions that are to take place in the final quarter of each preceding year, officials said. The agreement was signed during ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wage-group-agrees-january-1-raises
Mfone staff paid final wages
Bankrupt telecommunications company Mfone yesterday handed out the final instalments of unpaid wages to former employees. More than 1,000 former Mfone staffers received the remaining 30 per cent of their unpaid wages after the telecommunications firm filed for bankruptcy in February 2013. Since then, workers have ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mfone-staff-paid-final-wages
GTI price drops on day one
After a five-month IPO process steeped in anticipation, Grand Twins International ended its first day on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) with results many observers found disappointing. GTI shares opened yesterday’s session at 9,700 riel ($2.41), with a ceremonial bell ringing at the CSX’s head office. ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/gti-price-drops-day-one
Two’s company at CSX
It may not have all the glitter, adrenaline or the iconic tolling bell of Wall Street, but today, the usually deserted Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) will be a hive of activity. After first hinting at an initial public offering more than two years ago, garment manufacturer ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/two%E2%80%99s-company-csx