Economy and commerce

Prime Minister Hun Sen has called for the removal of all tariff and non-tariff barriers when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) integrates in 2015, saying it is of central importance. Speaking at the opening of an ASEAN symposium in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, the premier said integration of ...

Growing calls in Sweden for multinational clothing giant H&M to increase wages for Cambodian garment workers have taken a royal twist. Cambodia’s Prince Charin Norodom, 38, who has lived in Sweden for more than 30 years, told the Post yesterday that he had been working behind ...

About 80 ethnic Bunong villagers living in Mondolkiri’s Pech Chreada district staged a protest against the Socfin-KCD rubber company Monday, demanding that the firm honor its long-standing pledge to return 1,000 hectares of farmland located inside its concession. Socfin-KCD, a join venture between Socfin, a ...

During a visit to Phnom Penh this week, Greg So, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, reiterated Hong Kong’s desire to be inducted into the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and highlighted Cambodia as a potential beneficiary for foreign direct investment from Hong Kong. In So’s view, economic ...

Families in Koh Kong province will today file a complaint with the U.S. government against American Sugar Refining (ASR) over farmland they claim they were violently evicted from to make way for two sugar plantations that supply the New York-based company. The 207 Koh Kong ...

The chief economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia says Cambodia needs to attract greater numbers of multinational companies and treat them well, in order to establish production networks that will transfer technology to smaller Cambodian businesses. In an interview with the ...

Russian giant pulling back to core markets to achieve more rational structure and raise funds for investment Russia’s VimpelCom is considering selling many of its subsidiaries in Africa and Asia to focus on more “mature” markets, according to reports. The Financial Times newspaper says that the operator ...

Cambodian vegetable farmers say they are being forced to compete with more efficient farmers in Vietnam who use farming techniques to make their vegetables grow faster. Farmers in Sambork Meas, a village on the Mekong River in Mokkompul commune in Bakkeng district in Kandal province, say ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen called on Tuesday for the complete removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers when the ASEAN Economic Community is set up in 2015 Hun Sen also called for enhanced trade facilitation, further services liberalization and a regional framework for liberalizing and facilitating cross-border ...

PTT has set aside up to Bt6 billion to carpet key Asean markets with more than 240 retail petrol stations over the next five years. President and chief executive officer Pailin Chuchottaworn said the company had earmarked spending of between Bt5 billion and Bt6 billion through ...

GL Finance (GLF), the first and only financial leasing company in Cambodia, opened its 11th branch in Phnom Penh on Friday, covering all authorized Honda and NCX  dealerships in Phnom Penh and its vicinity. GLF, in partnership with Honda NCX, helps customers buy their own motorbikes and provides ...

The largest bank in Cambodia, Acleda Bank Plc, has extended its mobile banking and payments service to consumers without an existing banking relationship of any kind, according to a press release by global technology provider Fiserv. Established in 2010, Acleda Unity now reaches untapped consumer segments using ...

Improvements to Cambodia’s banking and finance sector are expected to come about as a result of the 2013 national budget, a Council of Ministers spokesman said. “We will dedicate resources to ensuring macro-economic stability,” spokesman for the Council of Ministers, Phay Siphan said. These measures, in conjunction ...

High demand for beef, particularly during the Islamic Qurban festival which ended yesterday, caused beef prices to almost double compared with the same period last year, according to Islamic leaders and officials. Him Khortieth, IKatan  Mahabbah Muslimin’s (IMAN) representative in Cambodia, said the association planned to ...

A lawyer for Norwegian-owned power and electronics equipment firm Eltek Valere yesterday called on investors not to buy stakes in the Thai-owned mobile phone operator Mfone, and to await court’s ruling. The lawyer’s appeal came after the Phnom Penh Municipal Court issued a warrant for keeping ...

Cambodia has received a US$1 million grant in order to develop its milled rice industry and strengthen the country’s exporting capacity, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. It is part of a larger, US$3-4 million grant from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), a partnership ...

A leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, today announced that ACLEDA Bank Plc. (ACLEDA), the largest bank in Cambodia, has extended its ACLEDA Unity mobile banking and payments service to new, untapped consumer segments using Mobiliti Reach™ from Fiserv. The bank, which has ...

Even as its controversial Xayaburi Dam project is still drawing protest from Mekong river downstream countries such as Cambodia, Laos has inked a deal with South Korean firms to build and operate another large hydropower plant on the Mekong River network. According to the Phnom Penh ...

Thailand’s GL Finance Plc. launched its business in Cambodia on Friday by opening eight branches in Phnom Penh and Kandal province that will operate hire purchase operations out of Honda motorcycle dealership. Speaking during the opening ceremony for its branch in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district, ...

The collective power of agricultural co-operatives could bring huge benefits to poor, small-scale farmers, a Phnom Penh conference for international World Food Day heard on Friday. The sentiments were shared by the director of Cambodia’s General Directorate of Agriculture, So Khan Rithy Kun, who said farming ...

The Norwegian energy firm Eltek Valere won an injunction from the Phnom Penh Municipal Court earlier this month against the Thai-owned mobile operator Mfone after it filed a complaint claiming that Mfone had failed to pay $3.73 million in service charges, court documents obtained Friday ...

Cambodia’s small economy leaves it especially vulnerable to devastation in the face of large-scale natural disasters, United Nations agencies and Cambodian officials warned last week. “The relative size of an economy adds to the vulnerability as seen particularly in the case of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic ...

Criticism has mounted against Swedish multinational clothing company H&M in its home country following a documentary released last week that sheds light on wages in its source factories in Cambodia. The episode of Swedish network TV4’s Kalla Fakta, or Cold Facts, focuses mainly on Cambodian garment ...

The government on Friday pledged a 20 per cent increase to the base salary of civil servants year-on-year in a move one government official insisted was based on economics, not politics. The announcement was made in a statement released over the weekend outlining government spending for ...