Economy and commerce

While Cambodia’s Moody’s rating is still at the same B2 level as last year, its economic growth has been downgraded two points from 2015, with the international credit rating agency warning that the Kingdom’s rapid pace of credit growth could pose financial stability risks. “The pace ...

Cambodia’s microfinance sector continued to expand rapidly during the first half of the year, despite concerns over rising default rates as the industry’s main borrowers – provincial farmers – struggle to repay their loans after successive seasons of drought and poor harvests. ...

Indian businesses are looking at Cambodia as a convenient hub in the lower Mekong area, as access to trade with neighboring Vietnam and Thailand improves, a government advisor said yesterday. Speaking at a seminar titled “Asean Integration and the Role of India,” Sok Siphana, a lawyer ...

The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development financial institution, signed a commitment letter for $125 million direct loan to Acleda Bank to support all sectors through microenterprises and small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), Acleda Bank said in a press release yesterday. ...

The Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) officially began receiving applications for liquidity providers yesterday as part of an initiative to boost market liquidity, it said in a press release. ...

Two months since a group of angel investors visited Phnom Penh in search of startup investment opportunities, the organisation behind the initiative is planning an even bigger scouting mission, looking for investment opportunities in the Kingdom’s small but vibrant startup community. ...

Current assets in Cambodia’s banking and financial institutions had risen to 25.6 billion U.S. dollars by June 2016, an increase of 21.3 percent in the last 12 months, according to the biannual report of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), or the central bank, on ...

With the deadline for a second review by a global task force of the government’s efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing fast approaching, the Kingdom’s central bank yesterday conducted a workshop with banks, financial institutions and state agencies to flesh out a strategy ...

Industrial park operator Phnom Penh SEZ, which became the fourth company on Cambodia’s stock exchange when it listed in May, released its audited 2015 annual report and 2016 half-year financials yesterday, reporting declines in revenue and net profit over the past 18 months on slower ...

Cambodia’s first independent association for promoting intellectual property (IP) is seeking closer cooperation with government agencies to help the private sector better understand IP, its benefits and the importance of registering their products. ...

In order to further promote trade between India and Cambodia, Phnom Penh will host an Indian trade fair next month, the Commerce Ministry announced. Organized in collaboration between the Indian and Cambodian chambers of commerce, the event is intended to further develop ties between businesses in ...

Half of US businesses operating in Cambodia believe that political stability in the country is such that they are confident in expanding their operations, according to an annual report by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the US Chamber of Commerce’s International Affairs ...

South Korean financial giant Woori Bank, widely seen as the preferred bidder for a 50 per cent stake in Cambodian microlender Prasac, is out of the running as it was not presented to the central bank as an official bidder, local banking officials have said. ...

Cambodia’s credit bureau is looking to leverage the resources and experience of US-based Equifax, one of the three biggest American credit report agencies, to expand its credit analysis capabilities and introduce new products to the local market, its chief executive officer said yesterday. ...

Two of Cambodia’s four publicly listed companies released their financial reports for the second quarter of 2016 yesterday, with both showing moderately healthy profits. ...

The Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) yesterday agreed to create provincial level committees to provide emergency relief to the Kingdom’s beleaguered rice sector, currently in crisis due to falling exports. ...

Wheat products have never had a big market in Cambodia, where meals revolve around rice, but Western influences are increasingly shaping local tastes and creating an appetite for flour products. ...

Cambodian rice cracker manufacturer Ly Ly Food Industry Co. Ltd., has begun exporting its products to China, as part of a push to expand beyond Asean markets. ...

Six weeks since the close of the fiscal first half, none of the four listed companies on Cambodia’s stock exchange have issued their required half-year financial statements, and one firm has not disclosed any financial data since 2014 – casting doubts on the tiny bourse’s ...

Just a month since their election, the leaders of the nation’s apex rice industry have cast a motion to extend their terms – a move some have greeted with suspicion. ...

The National Bank of Cambodia held a seminar on the state of the economy in the first half of the fiscal year on Saturday, forecasting 7.1 per cent GDP growth for the rest of the year. ...

Cambodia is seeking to export milled rice and sugar to East Timor, according to the Ministry of Commerce, with experts saying it will expand markets for the Kingdom’s agricultural products. ...

South Korea will push to build a highly efficient and eco-friendly city in Cambodia using its latest information technology, and support the Southeast Asian nation’s public housing program, the government said Monday. ...

A local wholesale company, Brightway Group Co. Ltd., and leading Thailand-based organic fertilizer manufacturer and distributor, MSK Fertilizer Co. Ltd., signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) yesterday for the entry of non-chemical fertilizers into the Kingdom. ...