Economy and commerce

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Prayuth Chan-ocha, agreed to boost bilateral trade by 300 percent—to $15 billion—by 2020 during meetings in which they also signed off on deals to open two new international border crossings and a railway line linking Phnom Penh ...

Sara Lamsam, president and chief executive officer, said yesterday that the company has formed a 49:51 joint venture called Sovannaphum Life Assurance with its partner Canadia Investment Holding, the holding company of Canadia Bank, Cambodia’s second-largest bank. ...

After seven years under discussion and a series of drastic edits, the Trade Union Law is inching closer to being passed by the National Assembly. Human Rights Watch yesterday issued a statement on the latest draft of the union law, saying that while it ...

A day after the US Federal Reserve increased interest rates, which can potentially impact incoming investments and make debt more costly, experts say the Kingdom’s strong underlying growth will help maintain investments flows and leave the country largely unaffected.The Fed’s 25 basis point rate hike ...

In recent years, Cambodia has seen a surging number of small and medium-sized businesses, driven by young entrepreneurs. As of 2011, there are estimated 530,000 SMEs in Cambodia, but many lack access to capital to build strong and innovative businesses.​ ...

Mengly J. Quach Holdings (MJH), an umbrella for companies engaged in education, health care, food, media and financial services, is undergoing a restructuring and audit, and plans to spin off of its core educational arm ahead of a possible listing on the Cambodian stock exchange, ...

Exports from Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Cambodia are projected to reach about 1.2 billion U.S. dollars this year, up 87 percent year-on-year, a local English newspaper reported Tuesday, citing figures from the Commerce Ministry.Exports from SEZs totalled 672 million U.S. dollars last year. ...

More than $15 billion exited Cambodia in illicit capital flows over the past decade, stripping the economy of money that could have been used for development, a new report showsA staggering amount of money was funnelled out of Cambodia in shady transactions over the past ...

Cambodia’s goods exports including the garment export in 2015 increased 25 percents in value in 2015, worth more than $4.5 billion, according to Ministry of Commerce’s figure. ...

East China’s Jiangsu province on Wednesday opened a trade and economic representative office in the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) in southwest Cambodia, aiming to further boost trade and investment ties between the two countries. ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday that his country has failed to export its targeted 1 million tonnes of milled rice this year. The volume of exports, however, was higher than last year, as for the whole 2014 more than 370,000 tonnes of milled ...

Shares in Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) debuted on Cambodia’s sleepy stock exchange yesterday morning, ending the day at 5,140 riel ($1.28), down 1.15 per cent from the 5,200 riel opening price, after a lukewarm session of sideways trading that dashed some investors’ hopes for ...

Cambodia’s economy lost more than $4 billion to illicit financial outflows in 2013, more than a quarter of its gross domestic product that year, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Washington-based think tank Global Financial Integrity.Based on trade data reported to the ...

Cambodian officials and private sector representatives met a visiting Indian business delegation yesterday to pitch for more Indian investment in the country and to explore ways of increasing the relatively low level of bilateral trade and investment. ...

The new Telecom Law recently approved by the Senate will open the sector for more investment as the government moves to ensure infrastructure for telecom services is provided nationwide by 2020, a senior official told a regional telecom forum yesterday.  ...

The third and final tranche of 1.8 million shares in Phnom Penh Autonomous Port’s (PPAP) recent initial public offering (IPO) sold out by the middle of last month, according to Hei Bavy, director general of the state-owned enterprise. ​ ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday called on banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) to suspend loan repayments by borrowers affected by this year’s drought, or either make the loans interest free or cut the rates. ...

The General Department of Taxation (GDT) will continue collecting the annual road tax on vehicles due at the end of last month until the end of the year, but will start cracking down on late payments on January 1, it announced. The taxes can be ...

Local and foreign firms looking to register their business in Cambodia can now do it from any internet-connected device after the Ministry of Commerce yesterday launched its long-awaited online business registration portal.The new, paperless system enables prospective businesses to search for a company name, upload ...

The 5th Committee Joint Trade Meeting which was co-chaired by Thailand’s Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn and her Cambodian counterpart, Sun Chanthol, discussed a wide range of cooperation which was mainly focused on trade and investment along the Thai-Cambodian border. ...

Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to strengthen ties in trade, investment, and other forms of cooperation, aiming for double-digit annual growth in bilateral trade from now on. Foreseeing the importance of human-resources development to make the Greater Mekong Subregion countries the core of the Asian ...

The EU and Vietnam on Wednesday signed a free trade deal that removes nearly all tariffs between Europe and the Southeast Asian nation. EU exports to Vietnam, meanwhile, are dominated by high-tech products including electrical machinery and equipment, aircraft, vehicles and pharmaceuticals. ...

Grow Asia, a multi-stakeholder partnership focused on sustainable and inclusive agriculture in the ASEAN region, is seeking to expand to Cambodia by 2016 to help small-scale farming develop into commercial agriculture and to strengthen the agriculture sector, a senior executive from Grow Asia said. ...

Turkish cosmetics brands looking to push further into the Southeast Asian market have met in the Cambodian capital, an embassy official said Wednesday. A joint economic commission was also set up that month by Cambodian Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol and Turkey’s Minister for Science, Industry ...