Economy and commerce
Hun Sen sets out northeast development plans
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for ...
ADB offers $15m loan for financial-sector growth
Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank have signed their latest loan agreement of US$15 million for the development of the Kingdom’s financial sector, according to ADB. The money would be used for a number of development programs, including the improvement of regulatory regimes, creation of an ...
Telecom Cambodia finds Vietnamese ISP partner
State-owned Telecom Cambodia has signed a business cooperation agreement with Vietnam National Post and Telecommunications Corp in order to bolster TC’s product portfolio and coverage area, company officials said yesterday. Telecom Cambodia offers both fixed-line phone and internet services in the Kingdom. Vietnam National Post and ...
Minister says mobile subscribers rise to 14m
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Cambodia increased to 14 million, or 98 percent of the country’s population, during the first 11 months of the year, the minister of Posts and Telecommunications said yesterday. So Khun said Metfone, which is owned by the Vietnamese military, ...
Vietnamese military bank to open doors today
Vietnam’s Military Commercial Joint-Stock Bank (MB Bank) will open its doors in Phnom Penh today, becoming the fourth Vietnamese bank to set up operations here and bringing the total number of commercial banks in Cambodia to 31. Nguon Sokha, general director of the National Bank of ...
SAP sees growth in shipments
Sihanoukville Autonomous Port saw a 10 per cent year-on-year shipment increase in the first 11 months of the year, according to data provided by the Port’s general director. The shipment of cargo across the port during the time period reached 2.2 million tons, a 9.94 per ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353314/Business/sap-sees-growth-in-shipments.html
$6bn in projects approved in 2011
Investment approved between January and October surpassed those last year by US$160 million, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia. The 126 local and foreign investment projects through October, worth about $6 billion, overshadowed the $5.8 billion in the whole of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011121353317/Business/6bn-in-projects-approved-in-2011.html
Military police shoot three farmers over land concession
Military police in Battambang province shot three villagers in the legs during a confrontation between local farmers and a private company that was granted a land concession, a police official said. Phnom Penh district police chief Song Sopheak said employees of Suon Neang Sambath company, a ...
Government begins clearing fishing lots of nets and traps
Despite recent protests by affected businessmen, the government last week began the removal of fishing nets in seven fishing lots in three provinces following alleged corruption during the bidding process for the lots. Prime Minister Hun Sen recently ordered the annulment of the results of an ...
15 foreign investments were approved in October
Fifteen foreign investments worth $344 million were approved by the government’s investment board in October, most of which were in the garment industry, according to data obtained this week ...
IMF cuts 2011 growth outlook to below 6%
Damage to Cambodia’s rice crop from widespread flooding earlier this year will likely cause economic growth to fall below 6 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which yesterday offered the lowest gross domestic product (GDP) prediction so far In a statement, the IMF chose ...
Kingdom sees boost in foreign reserves
Cambodia’s total foreign reserves jumped to US$3 billion in the first half of 2011, up from $2.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. The reserves help to bolster the Kingdom’s financial standing, which in turn draws investor interest ...
Asian Development Bank keeps growth outlook at 6.8%
New policies in agriculture, real estate and finance led the Asian Development Bank (ADB) yesterday to keep its outlook on Cambodia’s economic growth this year at an estimated 6.8 percent. The announcement comes even as the World Bank and the government have reduced their expectations, projecting ...
Nation's largest hydropower dam to open
Prime Minister Hun Sen will officially open the Chinese-made Kamchay dam in Kampot province today, the largest hydropower dam to date to operate in Cambodia and capable of supplying an extra 193.2 megawatts of energy. Environmental and human rights groups yesterday criticized the dam’s builder and ...
Villagers block national road in call for land
More than 250 villagers blocked National Road 48 yesterday in Koh Kong province while protesting against their eviction from their Kiri Sakor district homes, slowing traffic for more than eight hours, officials said Prom Sann, a representative for the villagers, said the protesters represented 250 families ...
New plant a benefit for cassava crop
An ethanol plant planned for Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province would push local production of the crop, as well as decreased reliance on foreign markets, officials and cassava farmers said yesterday. Construction on the joint venture between a Chinese firm and Cambodia’s National Company for Development will ...
Fishing-lot owner ignores voided bid
The owner of a fishing lot in Kampong Cham province, whose bid for his lot was cancelled more than a week ago, has been attempting to keep villagers from fishing the area he previously laid claim to by destroying their equipment and sinking their boats. On ...
Officials mum on proposed oil refinery
Officials were mum yesterday about the proposed construction of an oil refinery by a Chinese firm in Preah Sihanouk and Kampot provinces, and provincial authorities said the company had not yet been granted any land for the proposed project. Ter Chimnarith, deputy director of Kampot province’s ...
Senate ratifies record draft budget law
The Senate yesterday spent just 90 minutes ratifying the record $2.6 billion budget law for 2012, which will allow the government to borrow up to $1.1 billion from foreign lenders, according to a Senate statement ...
Villagers to block roads in protest
Hundreds of people whose land has been swallowed by a giant Chinese tourism project on the coast of Koh Kong province will attempt to demonstrate their grievances today by blocking national roads 4 and 48, villagers and human rights workers said Protesters have been resisting China’s ...
Railway impact reports nowhere to be seen
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has not made public the last two quarterly reports on the impact of resettling families who are being evicted for a $142 million railway rehabilitation project. The reports, which are required under an ADM loan agreement with the government, haven’t been ...
Shipments at PP port more than expected
Shipment through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port increased by more than 28 per cent in the first 11 months of this year, surpassing a government target for 2011. About 73,760 shipping containers passed through the port between January and November, data shows, up from 62,256 containers ...
Oil refinery to be built
Construction on a US$2 billion oil refining plant, the Kingdom’s first, will start in April, according to officials close to the project. The plant, which will be built on 365 hectares across Kampot and Sihanoukville provinces and is expected to be completed in 2014, is a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011120553135/Business/oil-refinery-to-be-built.html
Case pleaded to prime minister
More than 100 workers from Cambo Handsome One garment factory gathered outside the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday and Saturday, after urging him on Thursday to intervene in a dispute with the factory’s Korean owners. The move followed an appeal to the Ministry ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011120553142/National-news/case-pleaded-to-pm.html