Economy and commerce

An $8 million bond set to debut on Singapore’s stock exchange will mobilise private capital to support social enterprises and microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines, providing nearly half a million women in these countries with more access to credit in order ...

Cambodia’s garment exports grew slower than expected by about 4 percent in the first half of the year compared with 9 percent in the same period last year while foreign investment in the sector fell by 30 percent, according to a report released by the ...

The ostensibly-outlawed export of logs to Vietnam increased in May, while the trade in sawn timber, also supposedly banned, remained substantial, new Vietnamese customs data shows. ...

The government has issued a decree that requires all businesses to put price tags on their products and services in riel to increase transparency for consumers and boost the use of the local currency. ...

Cambodian rubber exports surged 37 percent during the first half of the year, compared to the same period in 2016, as the Kingdom’s rising harvest capacity coincided with firmer global demand for rubber products. ...

The number of construction projects approved in Cambodia during the first half of the year increased 28 percent compared with the same period last year, amounting to a total value of around $4.9 billion, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Land Management, ...

Cambodia and Myanmar have agreed to further enhance trade between the two countries by encouraging investment from small and medium enterprises and exchanging agricultural products, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. ...

A NEW international law firm is preparing to set up shop to provide foreign citizenship or residency services to Cambodia’s wealthy elite by helping to facilitate large overseas investments as well as business expansion plans. ...

Cambodian rice exports increased marginally during the first half of the year as export companies push to fulfill higher quotas destined for China. Rice exports totalled 288,562 tonnes in the first six months of the year, an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the same time ...

Speed Pay Plc, a newly licensed electronic payments service provider (PSP), is gearing up to join the ranks of mobile platforms tapping into Cambodia’s nascent digital payment sector. ...

The Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) has announced that it will establish a staff development fund to stem the tide of cross-institutional recruitment in the competitive microfinance institution (MFI) sector. ...

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation’s economic and technology exhibition 2017 kicked off yesterday in Phnom Penh to enhance trade and investment between China and Cambodia, plus other Mekong countries. ...

China is expected to purchase 300,000 tonnes of rubber from Cambodia in 2018, according to a commerce ministry statement.​ ...

AEON Mall, the first large-scale modern shopping mall in Cambodia, recently celebrated its third year of operation in the Kingdom, but with several new high-end malls slated to open over the next few years, analysts expect more competition and sweeping changes in the country’s retail ...

Just one day after the Kingdom’s microlenders mutinied and said they would not implement a government directive requiring all financial institutions to implement a 10 percent value-added tax (VAT) on fees for financial services, the Tax Department announced it would back down and temporarily suspend ...

A $20 million dry port and bonded warehouse within the Sovannaphum special economic zone (SEZ) in Kandal province is slated to open by October of this year ahead of the full completion of the 214-hectare zone by 2020, a senior management official said yesterday. ...

Cambodia rice mogul Song Saran, the CEO of one of the Kingdom’s top rice exporters, will diversify his agricultural business interests with the construction of a factory to clean and process locally grown pepper, he said yesterday. ...

The industry body representing the Kingdom’s myriad microfinance institutions (MFIs) threw down the gauntlet yesterday, announcing that its members had categorically rejected a government directive that orders them to charge a value-added tax (VAT) on financial services fees and would not apply it. ...

A Chinese firm that plans to invest $2 billion into developing the Kingdom’s first special economic zone (SEZ) dedicated solely to agricultural processing and storage has signed on a new partner to help jumpstart the stalled project, a top agriculture official said yesterday. ...

More than 50 business leaders and investors from Dezhou city, Shandong province in China, are seeking investment opportunities and Cambodian partners in the fields of agriculture, construction, machinery, food processing, technology and cars, renewable energy and sports equipment. ...

A proposal for a massive warehouse and silo that has attracted two Chinese investors aims to fill the Kingdom’s conspicuous gap in paddy rice storage capacity, which still falls 60 percent short of the level needed for the country to achieve its goal of 1 ...

The tax authority yesterday refuted local media claims that it had endorsed a private sector call to end Phnom Penh City Hall’s taxation of billboards and commercial signage throughout the capital, which advocates have said imposes an onerous levy on local businesses. ...

Mong Reththy Group (MRG), the Kingdom’s largest agro-industrial conglomerate, has secured a deal to export additional volumes of locally grown mangoes to France, the company announced yesterday on its Facebook page. ...

Mobile World Investment (MWG), one of the largest mobile phone and electronics distribution chains in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, has opened its first overseas store in Cambodia. ...