Economy and commerce

Micro-Credit Ratings International Ltd (M-CRIL), an Indian provider of rating and advisory services to the microfinance industry, has secured a $1.5 million equity investment agreement from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to push into emerging markets including Cambodia, the ADB said in an announcement last ...

Japan’s Hitachi Ltd has officially entered into a joint venture partnership with the local construction company CMED Group Co Ltd, aimed at expanding its sales, installation and maintenance services for elevators and escalators throughout the Kingdom, the company announced on Friday. ...

Bred Banque Populaire – part of the second-largest banking group in France – officially launched operations in Cambodia yesterday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its headquarters, marking the first venture of a European bank in the Kingdom since the late 1990s. ...

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry will reinstate sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) inspections on imported goods close to 10 years after having made the commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO). ...

Cambodians spent over $100 million on imported meat last year, further widening the gap of domestic supply as local producers failed to capture the lucrative protein market, a government official said yesterday. ...

US investments in Cambodia increased 15-fold last year, due mainly to the construction of a new Coca-Cola plant in the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone, according to a statement from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC). ...

Two more foreign banks—one French and one Vietnamese—announced plans earlier this week to open branches in Cambodia.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday pulled the country’s mobile operators into his aggressive campaign to clear up any confusion about the relationship between the government and microfinance institutions (MFIs), ordering them to send audio and text messages telling subscribers that MFIs were private entities. ...

A two-year income tax exemption is being offered to small and medium-sized enterprises that register with the Ministry of Economy and Finance before the end of 2018.   ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday ordered microfinance institute (MFI) Prasac, one of the largest in Cambodia, to change its logo immediately for fear that the public may confuse it as representing the government. ...

A new online trading platform is being developed to spur interest in Cambodia’s sleepy stock market by allowing traders to access the exchange remotely via software compatible with smartphones, a bourse spokesman said yesterday. ...

Kerry WorldBridge Logistics SEZ, which is developing a 63-hectare industrial park and free trade zone 17 kilometres south of the capital in Kandal province, has taken on a new partner to design and create an “industry and technology cluster” aimed at attracting non-garment manufacturing investment ...

Acleda Bank will issue new ATM, debit and credit cards to all its customers nationwide with the new bank logo, in compliance with an order issued by the Council of Ministers, said the bank’s CEO yesterday. ...

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Lê Minh Hưng, and Governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), Chea Chanto, have agreed to step up co-operation between the two banks. ...

ACLEDA Bank, Cambodia’s largest bank in terms of assets, will have to shell out millions in the next three weeks to comply with a Council of Ministers decision last Friday that the private financial institution must redesign and replace its logo on all company materials ...

With the Kingdom’s main rice harvesting season wrapping up, just a fraction of a government emergency loan package that aimed at giving millers the liquidity they needed to purchase rice paddy duringthe harvest cycle has been disbursed, leaving the government and private sector divided on ...

Germany’s car manufacturers are on edge as the U.K., their No. 1 importer, prepares to leave the E.U. And although expanding into Cambodia’s market is unlikely to ease their anxiety, German investors who gathered in Phnom Penh on Thursday said whatever potential might exist here ...

More than 30 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from Thailand came to Cambodia this week to explore business prospects and investment opportunities.   ...

The Kingdom’s two main ports reported markedly slower growth in container traffic last year due to a fall in import traffic, although exports of garments and agricultural products continued to rise, according to newly released port data. ...

As Cambodia prepares to host the World Economic Forum on Asean in May, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday made a global call for more investment flows into the region that he said was safe and secure for investors, and fast becoming a manufacturing powerhouse in ...

Vietnam is seeking to reverse their decline in trade with Cambodia and Laos, jump-starting plans yesterday to build 116 warehouses near border gates they share with their neighbors.According to a Vietnamese online news outlet, Vietnam’s Industry and Trade Ministry agreed to the plan to build ...

A China-based mirror manufacturing business that fabricates various glass and mirror products for use in the construction industry is keen to set up operations in the country. “Right now the industry is importing most of its construction materials from overseas and this makes it expensive. ...

Cambodia is aiming to diversify its exports after signing an agreement with the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) yesterday following the first session of a joint working group seeking to expand trade cooperation between the two sides. “Moreover, Cambodia wants to increase the trade volume and ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries is pushing mango farmers to increase their knowledge of growing the fruit before exporting to South Korea in an effort to boost production.Hean Vanhorn, deputy director general at the ministry, said at a workshop in Kampong Speu province ...