Economy and commerce

Cambodia’s armed forces have vowed to protect Chinese businesses and investors in the Kingdom and sought to reassure corporations fearful of the country’s potential hurdles in a statement released yesterday. ...

The state-owned bank entrusted with extending $27 million in emergency loans to millers to purchase rice paddy has marginally lowered the interest rate on these conditional loans in an effort to shorten some of the strings attached. The Rural Development Bank (RDB) announced late on Sunday ...

Bangkok Life Assurance expects to offer life insurance policies in Cambodia by the beginning of next year, according to Thai news outlets, adding to the list of international insurers looking to tap into the Kingdom’s nascent but potentially lucrative market. ...

Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya PLC., known more commonly as Krungsri announced last week that it was entering the Cambodian microfinance market with the acquisition of Hatta Kaksekar Limited (HKL). In a press release, Krungsri ‒ itself part of the Japanese-based Mitsubishi UFJ since 2013 ‒ described ...

Indonesia would consider buying more rice from Cambodia if the price was more competitive, the Indonesian ambassador to Cambodia told reporters after the Indonesian Trade and Tourism Promotion 2016 expo in Phnom Penh on Friday. Ambassador Pitono Purnomo said that Cambodia and Indonesia signed a ...

Vietnamese investors shied away from the Cambodian market during the first half of the year as the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) failed to register a single qualified investment project (QIP) from Vietnam during that period for the first time in its 22-year ...

The country’s financial institutions are closely monitoring loans that have been made to rice farmers, who say that this year’s fall in rice prices will affect their ability to make repayments, industry officials said yesterday. Last year, farmers were paid around 840 riel ($0.21) per kilogram ...

Cambodian factories manufactured industrial products worth $5.3 billion during the first seven months of 2016, according to data released yesterday by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft.​ ...

The Chinese developer behind a massive $3.8 billion tourism project being built in Koh Kong province has confirmed that it is ready to begin construction on a new international airport to serve the coastal resort and company’s related developments, though declined to reveal the investment ...

The government will not increase the rate for income tax and other taxes for the next two years, but will instead concentrate on expanding the base for tax collection, taking into account that there are still many individuals and businesses that do not pay tax ...

A roadshow to Hong Kong this week to pitch Cambodia’s newly received duty-free access on travel goods to the US market was successful, but manufacturers have yet to sign concrete deals to establish new production lines here, a delegate of the returning business mission said. ...

At the unveiling of the new Japanese-owned Sunrise Hospital in Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that such tourist-focused medical facilities would boost confidence in visitors and investors to Cambodia. Mr. Hun Sen described the $35 million hospital in Chrouy Changvar district, which on its ...

Rice millers in the country will now be able to access the government’s promised emergency loan of $20 million to purchase paddy rice from farmers in a bid to prevent rice prices from falling further, the Rural Development Bank (RDB) announced yesterday. Rural Development Bank CEO ...

A banking sector initiative launched yesterday aims to advise Cambodia’s financial sector on best practices for sustainable lending while capitalising on the growing pool of international funds that could flow into green and socially responsible projects. The Sustainable Finance Initiative will conduct two years of ...

Greater connectivity between Japan and Cambodia is tightening economic links between the two countries while catalysing Japan’s ambitions to develop a chain of industrial complexes that cut a tract through the Lower Mekong region. Officials at Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Japan’s development agency, say ...

The Cambodia-Thailand border in Pailin province temporarily reopened to various Cambodian agricultural products on Friday after a meeting between provincial authorities on both sides of the border, according to the deputy provincial governor who led the Cambodian delegation. ...

Cambodia urged the heads of all Asean national oil companies to cooperate together to ensure that there is demand and supply of energy in the 10-nation grouping, said a senior official in the Ministry of Mines and Energy. ...

China has pledged to increase its investment in Cambodia in return for the Kingdom’s commitment to its regional policies and economic initiatives in Southeast Asia. Wang Lei, secretary-general of the Chinese-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) Secretariat, said on Wednesday that Cambodia had thrown its full support behind China’s ...

The Thai Commerce Ministry is looking into existing trade and investment barriers for its “innovative farm products” with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, with the long-term goal of removing them, according to the Bangkok Post.   ...

Following a Monday announcement from the Agriculture Ministry that provincial officials must ensure that the country’s rice millers pay adequate prices for rice paddy, the ministry followed up yesterday, saying that working groups had started discussing the situation with rice millers and rice farmers. In a ...

In its latest audit of domestic appliance sales for seven countries in Southeast Asia, German-based market research firm GfK found that consumer spending on refrigerators, air conditioning units and washing machines grew by 2 percent during the year ending June 2016, while washing machine sales ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce and Laos’ Ministry of Science and Technology last week signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate in the protection of trademarks and geographical indications (GI). ...

Palm sugar producers in Kampong Speu province say they are ready to scale up and meet demand as global consumer goods giant Unilever looks to source palm sugar for its products from the Cambodian market. Prak Sereywath, president of the Cambodia Institute for Research and Rural ...

The value of imports from neighboring Thailand has decreased by almost $500,000 in the first seven months of this year, a possible sign of health of Cambodia’s domestic production capabilities. According to figures released by the Thai embassy, the value of imports dropped by 16 percent ...