Economy and commerce

The China’s Taiwan leading bank, Mega International (ICBC), on September 30th, opened its first branch in Phnom Penh, aiming to attract more Taiwanese investors to Cambodia and boosting further business. “The Mega ICBC will bring capital investment injection into the economy of Cambodia, employment opportunities, upgrading ...

Freight shipments through Phnom Penh Autonomous Port saw year-on-year growth of 30 per cent in the first nine months of the year, according to official PPAP figures. The total number of twenty-foot equivalent units that passed through the port hit 60,810 between January and August, up from ...

Officials and trade experts discussed a new draft law at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday that would allow the government to protect exporters against competitors abroad that engage in price dumping, or selling products at an extremely low price. Speaking on the sidelines of the ...

Small-scale health insurance policies can be an effective way to avoid drowning in debt, according to a survey released yesterday. Fifty-eight percent of 5,275 households surveyed in Kandal, Takeo and Kampot provinces had taken out loans, with health care and medical costs being the chief reason, ...

Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc., a listed company owned by the group of former Trade minister Roberto Ongpin, acquired Tidemark Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong company that owns 25.9 percent of Forum Energy Plc, an oil and gas firm controlled by Philex Mining Corp. Atok-Big Wedge said ...

H.E. Aun Pornmonirath, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia and Mr. Sang Wang Byun, Executive Director of Export-Import Bank of the Republic of Korea, on September 21 signed $21 Million Loan Agreement for Cambodia’s Rural Roads Improvement Project. “The ...

A Chinese animal feed mill officially opened at the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) on Aug 28. It is the first animal feed mill from China and the fifth animal feed factory to operate in Cambodia Cambodia has strongly depended on the imports for animal ...

According to a Sept 4 press release from the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC), there are currently a total of 19 SEZs and most of them are situated along Cambodia’s borders with Vietnam and Thailand. Eight are fully operational with both local and foreign ...

China’s Sinohydro Group Ltd earned US$2.12 billion in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the company announced yesterday. The move came just two months before Sinohydro launches the Kamchay Hydroelectric Dam in Cambodia’s Kampot province. The company expects the IPO to help fund ...

The Kampot Pepper Association said yesterday that the price of pepper would increase in January to $8 per kg, up from $7 currently. Nguon Lay, president of the association, said that the price hike was due to strong demand from abroad and high production costs ...

Cambodian officials say the country’s economic growth rate is set to exceed seven percent this year. According to financial analysts even if the global economy slows, Cambodia is well prepared to deal with it, partly because of strong foreign investment. But the billions of dollars ...

A rise in pig imports from Thailand and Vietnam has driven down pork prices by as much as 33 percent in the past month, leaving farmers here worried that an oversupply in the market will cut into profits. Prathna Preap, a swine market expert at USAID, ...

In the past month, ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded its outlook for two of Cambodia’s largest commercial banks. On September 2, Acleda Bank’s performance outlook went from “stable” to “negative” due to risks associated with rapid credit growth and a drain on local currency by depositors. ...

Sihanoukville Autonomous Port revenues increased more than 16 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2011, according to port officials. Cambodia’s largest port generated US$21 million in revenues between January and August, up from $18 million in the same period last year, SAP Director General ...

Thailand is reportedly preparing to re-enter negotiations with Cambodia on the Overlapping Claims Area after officials from the two countries talked this week at the ASEAN Energy Business Forum in Brunei. Thai Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said yesterday that he met informally with Ministry of Industry ...

At least 22 families living in the capital’s Chamkarmon district say they are being forced to sell their land at below market value to Thailand’s Bun Roong Company in order to make way for a housing development. Village representative Chhim Veasna said on Wednesday that the ...

An opposition Sam Rainsy Party activist who was badly beaten on September 16 by riot police during a protest against the demolition of homes at Boeng Kak lake filed a complaint yesterday with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against developer Shukaku Inc and the officers ...

The Asian Development Bank yesterday said it had never authenticated a June 17 letter from Finance Minister Keat Chhon that claimed an ADB consultant urged the government to target advocacy groups critical of an ADB-funded railway project. In a copy of the letter obtained earlier this ...

Camcontrol Directorate General revenue from goods inspections during the first half of the year increased by more than 32 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Ministry of Commerce data. Camcontrol, or the Cambodia Import-Export Inspection and Fraud Repression Directorate General, which regulates ...

Armed villagers from Kratie province’s Snoul district protested yesterday against district officials and a Vietnamese company they believe wants to cheat them out of their farmland. The rights to 300 hectares of land around Sre Cha commune’s Meanchey village have been highly disputed since 2008, when ...

The senior manager of Tomato Specialized Bank yesterday said the bank would continue to operate in Cambodia despite a decision by South Korea’s financial regulator to suspend one of its partners. Korea’s Financial Services Commission on Sunday announced that seven banks, including the Tomato Savings Bank, ...

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will enter Cambodia’s banking sector in November to become the country’s 30th commercial bank to date, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. The report said that ICBC president Yang Kaisheng had met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday ...

Gliding through the water almost soundlessly, the MS AmaLotus docked for only its second time in Phnom Penh last week At 92 meters in length and capable of holding 124 passengers, the AmaLotus is the latest cruise ship to start transporting tourists between Siem Reap and ...

The Kingdom’s small and medium enterprises have called on commercial banks and micro-finance institutions to lower interest rates on loans, as insiders have said they hamper SMEs’ potential for growth. Many Cambodian SMEs are concerned that the high interest rates offered by banks reduce productivity, according ...