Economy and commerce

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and neighbouring Vietnam rose more than 10 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, data from the Vietnam Embassy in Phnom Penh showed. Officials said cross-border trade facilitation by both countries significantly contributed to the growth. But they said ...

The newly appointed Kompong Thom provincial governor on Tuesday promised more than 500 families who were forcefully evicted by a Vietnamese rubber plantation more than three years ago that they would be given replacement land to farm on early next month. Security forces evicted villagers from ...

Local charter carrier Tonle Sap Airlines has suspended flights until June, in what appears to be the latest of a series of disruptions affecting the airline, which has also recently encountered financial turbulence. The airline, which operates chartered flights from Siem Reap to China, Taipei, and ...

The National Assembly yesterday passed a law to amend three articles in the anti-money laundering and terrorism financing law by a vote of 83 to six. Speaking at the start of session, Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, said the amendments would give ...

About 5,000 workers went on strike at the M&V garment factory in Kampong Chhnang province yesterday, adding to the list of incidents at the factory in the past two years that has also included mass faintings. Elsewhere, about 700 workers from the Pine Great (Cambodia) ...

Major financial institutions show more trust in providing loans to the agricultural sector, evidenced by increasing agricultural loan disbursement, thanks to potential growth in the sector and better preparation of financial report among borrowers, according to industry insiders. Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest domestically owned bank, has ...

India’s ambassador to Cambodia, Dinesh Patnaik, said yesterday that his government will pay outstanding benefits to about 30 restoration workers who lost their jobs at Siem Reap province’s Ta Prohm temple in February – but will not reinstate them. The entire restoration team – more than ...

A major Hong Kong investor in Cambodia has claimed that a government duty on seafood exports is stunting the country’s fish proc­essing industry. Hong Kong-based Sunwah Group began operating a shrimp-processing factory in Sihanoukville in 1994, and its plans in the country now include building a ...

Serge Mostura, French Ambassador to Cambodia, said he wanted to boost economic diplomacy between Cambodia and France. Citizens of France visits Cambodia only as tourists or for study, but none have placed investments in the country, so he vows to attract small and medium sized ...

Cambodia will launch a new 100,000-riel banknote (in equivalent to 25 U.S. dollars) in order to celebrate the sixtieth birthday of King Norodom Sihamoni on May 14, a central bank official said Wednesday. A sub-decree on the issuance of the new 100,000-riel banknote was signed ...

Milled rice exports have seen dramatic growth this year as the sector begins to take advantage of duty-free exports to European countries, an official and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. Thon Virak, director of state-owned rice exporter Green Trade, said Tuesday that in ...

The Ministry of Agriculture has signed a deal with Try Pheap Import Export to give the firm the right to purchase all timber felled in economic land concessions (ELCs) in Ratanakkiri province, according to a letter sent from the Agriculture Ministry to the Forestry Administration ...

The administrator dealing with the debts of defunct mobile operator Mfone yesterday established a committee to sell off the company’s remaining assets. Since it filed for bankruptcy in January, more than 1,000 creditors, including former staff, have claimed Mfone owes them a combined $160 million. Mfone’s remaining ...

A new air route may connect Macau and Cambodia this year, a move industry experts say would reduce travel costs in the region and reflects tourist interests in both destinations’ gambling industries. Several airlines are in contact with CAM, Macau International Airport Co, “seeking to launch ...

An insurance training centre is being planned in Cambodia to develop local expertise lacking in the Kingdom’s nascent insurance industry. The institute hopes to offer diploma courses to industry leaders here so they in turn will be qualified to provide insurance training to others, such as ...

Chevrolet, one of America’s iconic brand autos, officially launched its first dealership here on Monday, aiming at tapping into the country’s growing market for new vehicles. Martin Apfel, president of the US’ General Motors to Southeast Asia Operations, said at the launching ceremony at the cars’ ...

China’s assistance to Cambodia is very important for the country’s economic and social development, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said Tuesday. He said from 1992 to present, China has provided 2.7 billion U. S. dollars in soft loans and grants to ...

The Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU) urged all apartment landlords to not increase their rent because garment and footwear employees get only a basic salary of $80 per month. A statement issued Monday said the wage increase from $61 per month to $80 will be implemented ...

Booyoung Co., a mid-sized South Korean conglomerate, said Tuesday that it broke ground for one of the largest housing projects in Cambodia, a project Cambodia hopes to spur foreign investments. Booyoung said it will build 40 apartments and seven residential and commercial complexes on 2.7 square ...

Cambodia’s National Assembly on Tuesday adopted a draft law on fire prevention with jail term punishment for arsonists, neglected firefighters, and false information providers on fires. Ninety-four out of ninety-seven lawmakers, who were present at the session, passed the law, saying it would help maintain security, ...

A new microfinance institution (MFI), ORO Financecorp Plc, is set to open in Cambodia, according to the director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC). Cambodia already has 35 registered MFIs, according to a recent report by the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA). Last week, the ...

F1soft Company, a software service provider that makes banking transactions available via phone, had commenced operations in Cambodia, company officials said yesterday during a workshop. Sean Thorninn, a lecturer in economics at the Limkokwing University and expert in Cambodia’s landscape of microfinance institutions (MFI), told ...

An often flouted and publicly unpopular restriction forbidding Cambodia’s telecoms from offering lucrative mobile phone promotions was scrapped on Sunday, just two weeks after it was introduced. In a letter from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC), signed by Minister So Khun, it announced a ...

During his speech last week at the swearing-in ceremony of Phnom Penh’s new governor, Pa Socheatvong, Interior Minister Sar Kheng noted that managing Cambodia’s capital is by no means an easy task. While critics of [former Phnom Penh governor] Mr. [Kep] Chuktema note his failure ...