Economy and commerce
Cambodia gets rolling
The small but sleek Angkor Car can easily navigate the narrow streets of Cambodia, while with an electric engine saves on expensive fuel costs. It may cost $10,000 per vehicle, a bit steep for most local people, but the vehicle is a welcome testimony to ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/marketing/348783/cambodia-gets-rolling
Cambodia, Bangladesh ink visa exemption deal for diplomatic, official passport holders
Cambodia and Bangladesh on Friday signed a visa-free agreement for diplomatic and service passport holders in a bid to strengthen bilateral ties in politics, trade, investment and tourism, officials said. The deal was inked here between Long Visalo, secretary of state at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/03/c_132357925.htm
Kids beaten over ELC
Five men working for Ratanakkiri rubber concessionaire DM Group, including a soldier, have been arrested for allegedly beating a villager and his children – one of whom, doctors say, may not survive – in a scuffle over their family’s land, the father said yesterday. Police confirmed ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050665430/National/kids-beaten-over-elc.html
Government Mulls Issuing Sovereign Bonds
Cambodia is considering offering sovereign bonds to raise more revenue for the national budget and move away from its dependence on overseas aid, a senior central bank official said Sunday. National Bank of Cambodia director-general Nguon Sokha said the Ministry of Economy and Finance was currently ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/government-mulls-issuing-sovereign-bonds-21989/
Sugar Firm Files Defense in Cambodian Lawsuit
British sugar firm Tate & Lyle has denied knowing of the alleged abuses at two Cambodian plantations accused of illegally driving hundreds of families off their farms and says that the families have no right to ask the company for compensation, according to the firm’s ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uk-sugar-firm-files-defense-in-cambodian-lawsuit-21913/
Cambodia’s Excess Baggage
“I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t going expecting to look out the bus window and see all the blue bags along the roads and in the fields,” said 27-year-old Christopher Convery, who is currently backpacking for the first time in Cambodia. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/selected-features/cambodias-excess-baggage-22003/
Agriculture Contributes To Helping Cambodia’s Economic Growth: PM Hun Sen
“The agriculture sector today is still playing significant role in promoting local production growth, job creation, and contributing to the poverty reduction of the people. At the same time, the agriculture sector will continue the basic role for economic growth and socio-economic development in Cambodia in ...
Cambodia's micro-lenders record 24 pct lending growth in Q1
Cambodia’s 35 microfinance institutions had lent 1 billion U.S. dollars to customers by the end of March this year, up 24 percent from 808 million U.S. dollars it lent at the end of last year, the data of Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) showed Wednesday. On the ...
http://www.asean-china-center.org/english/2013-05/03/c_132357476.htm
Cambodia-U.S. trade flat in Q1
The two-way trade volume between Cambodia and the United States valued at 758 million U.S. dollars in the first three months of this year, up only 0.8 percent compared with 752 million U.S. dollars over the same period last year, the statistics of the U.S. ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-05/03/c_132357935.htm
Engineers Hold Labor Day Protest Against Paying Income Tax
More than 50 engineers employed by Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co. Ltd. to work on a new Neak Loueng Bridge in Kandal province protested on Wednesday over paying income tax of 10 percent and are threatening to go on strike again if their employer dose ...
Pushing the ELC envelope
Three companies accused of illegal logging in Ratanakkiri province are in possession of a combined 30,000 hectares of economic land concessions (ELCs) that are likely illegal because they are owned by the same parent firm. Hoang Anh Andong Meas, Hoang Anh Lumphat and Hoang Anh Ouyadav ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365405/National/pushing-the-elc-envelope.html
NGO, Boeung Kak activists offer solution
The Boeung Kak community and a land rights NGO yesterday released a proposed demarcation plan they say could solve the long-standing land dispute. In a map presented yesterday, villagers said they had agreed on a land division that would make room for 70 families locked out ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365397/National/ngo-b-kak-activists-offer-solution.html
Mekong forest facing sharp decline: WWF
BANGKOK: Demand for farmland may strip the Greater Mekong region of a third of its remaining forest cover over the next two decades without swift government action, a leading conservation group warned Thursday. Forests are being cleared for commodities such as rubber and rice while illegal logging is decimating ...
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/mekong-forest-facing-sharp-decline-wwf/661574.html
Officials Consider Export Numbers Fishy
The Ministry of Commerce has released figures showing Cambodia’s export of fishery goods including fresh and dried fish products have decreased drastically in the first quarter of the year, though several government officials viewed the figures with scepticism. Cambodia exported 49.9 tonnes of fish products in ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365392/Business/officials-consider-export-numbers-fishy.html
Cambodia Angkor Air plans network and fleet expansion ahead of PAL-backed Cambodia Airlines launch
Cambodia Angkor Air is planning rapid fleet and network expansion as competition intensifies in the Cambodian market. The Cambodian flag carrier is expected to more than double its fleet by the end of 2015 and launch services to several new markets, including mainland China, Hong ...
Cambodia Must Up its Game in Rice Exports
Cambodia announced two major bilateral trade agreements last month, with the Philippines and Thailand, that are expected to further expand the country’s rice export sector. Over the last few years, Cambodia has emerged as a major rice exporter in the region, due in large part ...
http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2013/05/01/cambodia-must-up-its-game-in-rice-exports/
Prakas Set to Control Tax Agents
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) last month signed a prakas, a ministerial decision, to ensure tax agents’ professionalism, an insider told the Post yesterday. After the full implementation of Prakas 455, signed on April 12, agents have to pay one million riel to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265367/Business/prakas-set-to-control-tax-agents.html
Huge Increase in MFI Loans, Deposits
More economic activity and a better understanding of using formal financial services among rural residents are leading to good loan performance rates and increases in savings deposits in Cambodia’s microfinance industry, according to industry sources. The loan portfolios of the 35 registered microfinance institutions (MFI) and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265366/Business/huge-increase-in-mfi-loans-deposits.html
Thai Trade Expo Draws Thousands of Cambodian Visitors Despite Ongoing Border Row
Thousands of Cambodian people visited and bought Thai products on Thursday at a large scale exhibition although simmering border spat between the two countries remains unsolved. “Even though border dispute is still going on, trade and investment ties between Thailand and Cambodia are still good,” Amparwon ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-05/02/c_132355223.htm
High Risk Seen in Kingdom’s Business Environment: Report
Corruption, a weak judicial system and the potential for complicity with human and labour rights abuses are key risks for firms looking to invest in Cambodia, a new report [by Maplecroft, a UK-based global risk and strategic consulting firm] analysing investment risk in the Kingdom ...
Mobile Bonuses Axed After Firm Complaint
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun said Wednesday that the government’s decision last week to order all mobile phone firms to stop offering generous top-up bonuses came after one of the market’s competitors complained to the ministry. Ian Watson, CEO of Mobitel, denied complaining ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/mobile-bonuses-axed-after-firm-complaint-21436/
Tourism: More Info Needed
In diversifing its holiday attractions, Cambodia’s tourism industry should focus on three key areas – the country’s northeastern region, the coasts and the vicinity around Siem Reap – but efforts to promote these destinations are still lacking, an industry leader says. Statistics from the Ministry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050265365/Business/tourism-more-info-needed.html
Thousands of workers in Cambodia march for pay rise on Int'l Labor Day
About 5,000 Cambodian workers took to the street on Wednesday to mark the International Labor Day, calling for pay rise, better labor conditions and decrease in petrol prices, a union representative said. Marchers, mostly garment workers, held banners and walked from the Freedom Park near the ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-05/01/c_132352087.htm
Made in Cambodia: Foreign Industry Calls on Cambodia as the Next “Low-Cost” Alternative in All Things Manufacturing
About a decade ago, global manufacturing firms staged a mass exodus to Asia in search of low-cost alternatives to increasing domestic wage demands and operational costs. The consensus was the continued development of a regional supply chain that had formed in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, ...