Economy and commerce
Economic policy and administration
Negotiations Fail as Worker, Opposition Protests Continue
Tens of thousands of workers protested in front of the Ministry of Labor on Monday, after negotiations between labor leaders and the government failed to find a resolution to demands of higher wages in the face of a rising cost of living. Labor Minister Ith ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/negotiations-fail-as-worker-opposition-protests-continue/1820038.html
Gov’t Unveils Legal Plan to Break Garment Industry Strike
As mass demonstrations by garment factory workers continued Monday, the government laid out plans to bring an end to the labor unrest within the next three days, including suing union leaders in the courts and mobilizing security forces to take unspecified action. Signed by Council ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-unveils-legal-plan-to-break-garment-industry-strike-49763/
Cambodian deputy PM leads delegation to China for bilateral meeting
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong will lead a group of senior officials representing relevant ministries to attend the first meeting of Cambodia-China Intergovernmental Coordination Committee to be held from Jan. 1 to 3 in Beijing. The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said ...
People's Daily Online News Staff
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8499809.html
Factories Closed Until Safety Guaranteed
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-closed-until-safety-guaranteed-49749/
Cambodians rally to demand PM's resignation
Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government ...
Prak Chan Thul
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/29/us-cambodia-protest-idUSBRE9BS03P20131229
Increasingly, Cambodians Say They are ‘Suffering’: Poll
An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...
Vannarin Neou
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/increasingly-cambodians-say-they-are-suffering/1819008.html
Hun Sen, Tan Dung Sign 9 Agreements During Vietnam State Visit
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday signed off on nine wide-ranging deals with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung during a state visit that ends Saturday, including arrangements to tighten media, public security and trade cooperation, according to Cambodian and Vietnamese state media. Cambodian state news ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-tan-dung-sign-9-agreements-during-vietnam-state-visit-49735/
Cambodian labor minister holds urgent talk with pro-opposition trade unions over strikes
Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng on Friday afternoon held an urgent talk with the representatives of six pro-opposition trade unions after they have led tens of thousands of workers off work in protest against low wage increase for 2014. As the meeting was going on, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002053.htm
Human Rights Watch attacks IMF chief over Cambodia visit
American lobby group Human Rights Watch has lashed out at Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, for her trip to Cambodia earlier this month. In a commentary posted Thursday, it noted that the IMF recognized that corruption threatened market integrity, distorted competition, ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YTNmNDE1NGJiZjY
Factories to lose millions
The economic fallout from garment worker protests and the industry’s response is expected to cost the key sector millions of dollars while tarnishing the country’s reputation among international buyers, interviews with suppliers and figures from previous periods of labour unrest show. Disputes over wages came to ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factories-lose-millions
‘New Voices’: Poor Education Hurts Economic Growth
Economic growth has a close correlation with the quality of education, and not its quantity, a graduate student at the University of Chicago says. While education for all has been introduced in Cambodia, more needs to be done toward offering equal access to quality education, ...
VOA Khmer News Staff
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/new-voices-poor-education-hurts-economic-growth/1816811.html
BIDV to open in Phnom Penh
A subsidiary of the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV) opened its seventh branch in Mean Chey District, Phnom Penh, on Sunday. The new branch is also expected to meet local demand and boost the development of trade and investment ties between ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YTY2YzNlODE3YTk
Low awareness of AEC pact
The Asean Economic Community (AEC) will cut red tape and allow freer trade between the bloc’s 10 member states. But many companies in the region aren’t even aware of the AEC blueprint, a sobering report from the Asia Development Bank has found. The bank also ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/low-awareness-aec-pact
CPP Parliament Approves Two Ministers, 2014 Budget
CPP lawmakers including Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously voted Friday for their party members, Suy Sem and Cham Prasidh, to become heads of the newly created Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, respectively. The 67 ruling-party parliamentarians present also approved ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-parliament-approves-two-ministers-2014-budget-49542/
Svay Rieng Workers Strike Again, Throw Rocks
Police briefly detained 13 garment factory workers on Thursday after about 20,000 workers, some throwing rocks, continued a strike that began Monday in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City over wages and working conditions, a union official and police said. Union leaders had on Wednesday evening agreed ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/svay-rieng-workers-strike-again-throw-rocks-49506/
Yearender: Cambodia's economy remains strong in 2013 despite political row, flood havoc: officials
Cambodia’s economy is expected to maintain the robust growth of over 7 percent this year even though the country is still trapped in political dispute and recovering from the aftermath of recent floods, senior officials and bankers said. But some analysts predicted that political trouble, coupled ...
Nguon Sovan and Wang Qibing
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-12/19/c_132979125.htm
Hun Sen’s Niece Opens Tax Consulting Firm
Local law and consulting firm HML, whose chairperson and founding partner is Hun Kimleng, a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen and wife of National Police chief Neth Savoeun, has teamed up with Tokyo-based XAT Tax Corp. to form a consulting agency focused solely on ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/hun-sens-niece-opens-tax-consulting-firm-49420/
Cambodian garment manufacturers, trade unionists talk over pay rise with no agreement
Cambodia’s garment manufacturers and trade unionists on Monday began a negotiation on pay rise for garment workers in 2014 but reached no any agreement because the union representatives demanded to double the current wage. The talk was made between the employers represented by Nang Sothy, co-chair ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/16/c_132972280.htm
For 2013, trade value to reach $16 billion
The value of Cambodia’s overall trade volume for 2013 is expected to reach $16 billion, according to the former Minister of Economy and Finance, Keat Chhon. The figure comes to a 14.4 per cent rise from last year. ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/2013-trade-value-reach-16-billion
Illicit Trade Linked to $130M In Losses
A report released by a U.S. financial research firm today says that Cambodia lost an average of $133 million per year between 2002 and 2011 through crimes such as import and export tax evasion, illegal movements of money and smuggling. The report, released by Global Financial ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/illicit-trade-linked-to-130m-in-losses-49163/
Taxi Drivers Block Checkpoint In Poipet to Protest New Tax
Taxi drivers staged a large protest Wednesday at a customs checkpoint in Poipet City over customs officials’ demands for what the protesters said was an exorbitant tax on a small load of goods. At the checkpoint Wednesday, more than 50 taxi drivers blocked the road for ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/taxi-drivers-block-checkpoint-in-poipet-to-protest-new-tax-49159/
ACU Partners With Coca-Cola in Anti-Graft Agreement
During a four-hour pop concert in Phnom Penh to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Monday, the Coca-Cola Company and the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) signed an agreement that commits the international soft drinks company to avoid committing bribery in Cambodia. “Corruption is the barrier to development ...
Khy Sovuthy and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acu-partners-with-coca-cola-in-anti-graft-agreement-48957/
Inflation Rate at 4.2% to October
Cambodia’s inflation rate increased by 4.2 percent in the 12-month period to October, with food prices accounting for more than half of the rate, according to data released Monday by the National Institute of Statistics. The monthly inflation rate grew from 3.4 percent in August to ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/inflation-rate-at-4-2-to-october-48977/
Minister Says Set Phone Call Prices ‘Temporary’
The minister of posts and telecommunications on Monday insisted an edict ordering the country’s seven mobile phone operators to abide by a law that sets minimum prices for calls is only temporary. Prak Sokhon, the newly-appointed posts and telecommunications minister, said the order was necessary because ...
Joshua Wilwohl and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/minister-says-set-phone-call-prices-temporary-48975/