Economy and commerce

Locally owned Singapore Banking Corp. (SBC) will rebrand itself Thursday as Cathay United Bank (Cambodia) Corp. Ltd., or CUBC, as part of a deal that finalizes the acquisition of SBC by Taiwanese financial corporation Cathay United Bank, according to a copy of a speech that ...

Cambodia and the International Labor Organization (ILO) on Thursday launched a new project to expand job services and improve labor market information with funding from China, according to an ILO media statement. The ILO/China South-South Cooperation Project to Expand Employment Services and Enhance Labor Market Information ...

Last year across Cambodia’s cities, more and more people decided to take the plunge and invest in housing. This should be obvious to anyone who lived in Cambodia last year. The sounds of construction or renovation were more noticeable than before in cities across the Kingdom. Data ...

Cambodia and Belarus set to promote bilateral relations in politics, diplomacy, economics, trade, and tourism for mutual benefits of the two countries and peoples, a Cambodian spokesman said Thursday. Cambodia and Belarus established diplomatic relations in 1995, he said, adding that economic and trade relations ...

As property prices in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap continue to push upwards, many investors are quickly being priced out of these first-tier markets. Looking at second-tier cities around the Kingdom, Sihanoukville in particular stands out as an investment destination worth serious consideration. Named after the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said it would be impossible to double the garment workers from USD 80 to USD 160 even though he wish to see them to have better life. “Which leaders and Prime Ministers don’t want to see their peoples have good ...

Megabank Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. said Tuesday that it will boost business collaboration with Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s leading commercial bank, and Absa Bank in South Africa, Japan’s Jiji Press reported. The Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. unit said it has dispatched a staff member to a ...

Economic freedom in Cambodia worsened over the past year, according to the latest report from the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in the US. Cambodia is ranked 108 out of 178 countries surveyed, with an overall score of 57.4, a 1.1-point dip from ...

More than 600 families of ethnic Tumpuon villagers from Taveng district on Monday filed complaints with Ratanakkiri authorities and rights group Adhoc seeking a halt to illegal mining of gold by two companies. ...

Vietnam Dairy Product Joint-Stock Co, better-known to milk lovers as Vinamilk, was granted a licence on Monday to open a $23 million processing facility in Phnom Penh’s Special Economic Zone. A statement to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange released by the dairy giant on Monday ...

Thousands of garment workers from four factories have gone back on strike this week to protest a decision by their employers to withhold pay for the days they did not work during recent nationwide strikes. Between 8,500 and 12,500 workers at four factories—two in Phnom Penh, ...

Cambodia’s opposition leaders were questioned in court Tuesday in connection with recent protests against strongman premier Hun Sen — a case they denounced as politically motivated. Prosecutors at Phnom Penh Municipal Court spent several hours grilling Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha about unrest that ...

The Free Trade Union (FTU) on Monday reported an overall increase in industrial action by its local branches last year with 136 total strikes in the first 11 months of 2013, up 35 percent from all of 2012, when there were 101 strikes by its ...

The Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court laid fresh charges of money laundering on the detained chairman of an embattled British investment firm on Friday, the same day that a provincial official was arrested in relation to fraud charges the businessman was already facing, a court official ...

Political instability has done little to dampen Vietnam’s appetite for investment in Cambodia, the latest figures revealed yesterday by Prime Minister Hun Sen show. Last year, Vietnamese investment reached $302 million, up 250 per cent from $86 million in 2012, according to the prime minister, who ...

Visiting representatives from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on Monday urged the Labor Ministry to withdraw its threat to revoke the licenses of six unions behind recent strikes, and to drop legal proceedings against union leader Rong Chhun. His visit follows garment worker protests ...

The new year has brought with it a mixed outlook for the vehicle market, as dealers post both positive and negative sales figures for 2013. Pily Wong, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen distributor Hung Hiep (Cambodia), said sales had been seriously affected by the Kingdom’s ...

Construction on a four-year, $150 million commercial and residential development that will transform 70,000 square metres of land on Koh Pich into Parisian-style apartments with a replica of the Arc de Triomphe at the centre is reportedly scheduled to commence in the coming months. The Élysée, ...

A hotel catering to foreign investors and expatriate employees is being built inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), management confirmed yesterday. The project will be constructed through a joint venture between PPSEZ and the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Tama Home. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said that the flow of investment in Cambodia increased sharply from USD2.9 billion in 2012 to USD4.9 billion in 2013. During the 4th Cambodia-Vietnam Conference on Investment Cooperation at Peace Palace, he said the Vietnamese investments also increased, from ...

Construction investment in Cambodia in the past 11 months of 2013 was worth of USD 2.4 billion or 1526 projects, covering construction area of 7 million sq km, said The Ministry of Urbanization and Construction. The ministry added that compared with the same period of last ...

About 100 people, including 20 monks, held a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Friday in memory of the five people killed a week beforehand when military police opened fire on protesting garment workers, and demanded that the government introduce a mandatory, sector-wide standard minimum wage. In ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday assigned former Finance Minister Keat Chhon as the head of a newly formed committee tasked with researching the government’s capacity to introduce wage increases for civil servants and factory workers. The statement said that Mr. Hun Sen also spoke ...

Japan has expressed its deep concern about the situation in Cambodia following the deadly crackdown on striking garment workers last Friday, and admitted Thursday that it had contacted the government during the protests to ask for protection of Japanese citizens and companies. Military police armed with ...