Aid and development
Multilateral development assistance
Cambodia to feel an energy crunch, but growth to remain stable: report
Energy demand in Southeast Asia is expected to increase by more than 80 per cent by 2035, fuelling some $240 billion in oil spending, a new report from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) shows. In its “Southeast Asia Energy Outlook” published yesterday, the Paris-based IAEA ...
Anne Renzenbrink
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-feel-energy-crunch-growth-remain-stable-report
Cambodian economy expected to remain buoyant: ADB
Cambodia’s economic growth rate is expected to exceed 7 percent both this year and next, the Asian Development Bank said Wednesday. The ADB maintained its forecast for this year’s economic growth at 7.2 percent, supported by strong exports and robust construction and service sectors. The ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/131002/cambodian-economy-expected-remain-buoyant-adb
Climate report paints dismal picture for region
As much of the country grapples with crippling floods, a comprehensive report on global climate change released yesterday predicts the situation could be poised to get even worse. According to the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as the planet grows warmer, cyclones making ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/climate-report-paints-dismal-picture-region
Housing Activist in Washington To Push for Cambodian Policy Reforms
Cambodian housing rights activist Tep Vanny is in Washington this week, seeking to increase international pressure on Cambodian authorities to end forced evictions and find resolutions to longstanding land disputes. Tep Vanny, a housewife who has emerged as a leader for Cambodian victims of forced evictions, ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/housing-activist-in-washington-to-push-for-cambodian-policy-reforms/1760036.html
Report Finds Disaster Committee Severely Lacking
The government’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) fails to meet regularly and is void of an annual budget to cover its operations while most of its staff members are totally unaware of their job description, according to a report released in March and funded ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-finds-disaster-committee-severely-lacking-43998/
Cambodia imports 1.1 million tons of oil in 8 months
Cambodia had imported 1.1 million tons of petroleum in the first eight months of the year, a 3.5 percent decrease compared with the 1.14 million tons over the same period last year, the figures of the Ministry of Commerce showed Friday. From January to August this ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-09/27/c_132756600.htm
Cambodia Verifies the World’s First VCS Triple Gold CCB Avoided Deforestation Project
SAN FRANCISCO — The Oddar Meanchey REDD+ (Reduced Emissions for Deforestation and Degradation) project in Cambodia is the first in the world to complete verification of emission reductions under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) with a triple gold Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) accreditation for emission ...
The Herald Staff
http://www.heraldonline.com/2013/09/24/5239878/cambodia-verifies-the-worlds-first.html
Fertilizer Scam Referred to Anti-Corruption Unit
The case of a Battambang provincial government official accused of embezzling some $200,000 in state funds has been referred to the Anti-Corruption Unit in Phnom Penh, provincial officials said Thursday. Battambang Provincial Court deputy prosecutor Long Hokmeng said a two-week investigation into the case brought against ...
Eang Mengleng and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fertilizer-scam-referred-to-anti-corruption-unit-42818/
Battling dengue on a shoestring
The man leading Cambodia’s seemingly Sisyphean attempt to combat dengue fever can be found most days in a weakly lit office inside the Communicable Disease Control Department, which is stacked wall to wall with drooping folders and medical texts. For more than 10 years, the soft-spoken ...
Amelia Woodside and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battling-dengue-shoestring
Further JICA Support Hinges On Fertilizer Scandal
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that its future support of agricultural development in Cambodia depends on the outcome of an investigation into a provincial official accused of embezzling funds from JICA-donated fertilizer. The accused, deputy bureau chief of Battambang’s department of agriculture Seng ...
Matt Blomberg and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/further-jica-support-hinges-on-fertilizer-scandal-42143/
New Project Aims to Help Small Businesses in Cambodia
A new project by the government and Japan’s aid agency seeks to assist small companies in Cambodia that are in need of specialist advice in order to develop and keep up with competitors in neighboring Asean countries. The aim of the two-year program, called “Strategic Strengthening ...
Simon Henderson and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia-41534/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-project-aims-to-help-small-businesses-in-cambodia
Government, ADB Differ on Rail Project
The government claims to have finished nearly a third of the work needed to rehabilitate the long-dilapidated railway line from Phnom Penh to the Thai border at Poipet, twice the figure reported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the main financier of the over-budget and ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-adb-differ-on-rail-project-41263/
Cambodian police trained to fight money laundering, terror financing
With an aim of facing the growing challenge in Southeast Asia concerning money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has stepped in to provide Cambodian police with skills in order to curb this threat, according to a statement ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130826/cambodian-police-trained-fight-money-laundering-terror
Cambodia expects double growth in rice exports this year: minister
Cambodia was expected to export as much as 400,000 tons of milled rice in 2013 thanks to rising demand on international markets and the country’s efforts in developing rice industry, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Tuesday. “We project that Cambodia can export up to 400,000 tons ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/27/c_132667860.htm
ADB lends 70 mln USD to Cambodia for rice commercialization, finance reforms
The Government of Cambodia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed loan agreements worth $70 million to expand the country’s rice sector and promote reforms in the finance sector, an ADB’s statement said. Signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon ...
Xinhua News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/806367.shtml#.UhsAYtKBmN8
Initiative Encourages Private Rural Investment
Representatives from more than 90 Cambodian businesses gathered yesterday at the Council of Ministers building in Phnom Penh to hear about a new initiative that aims to encourage private sector investment in agriculture. The $55.6 million project is an extension of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/initiative-encourages-private-rural-investment-37899/
Cambodia predicts 7.6 percent GDP growth in 2013
Cambodia’s economy would grow by 7.6 percent this year, driven by garment exports, agriculture, tourism and construction, according to a preliminary prediction by the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Wednesday. The ministry said that the GDP volume would be around 15.19 billion U.S. dollars and ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-07/24/c_132570724.htm
New Boeng Kak Group Petitions World Bank
About 30 former residents of the Boeng Kak community submitted a petition on Friday morning to the World Bank office and several embassies in Phnom Penh, calling for a halt to all funding for longtime anti-eviction protesters from the Boeng Kak area. The Boeng Kak counter-protesters ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-boeng-kak-group-petitions-world-bank-33746/
ADB to loan $55 million to Cambodia's rice sector
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $55 million to help transform the rice sector of Cambodia into a viable commercial industry as well as taking care of the land and water resources. ADB’s Climate-Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development Program―which will run ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ZjI4NDZjMzFlMmE
Hor Namhong Asks for More Cash for Rail Project
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong made another appeal to Australia for additional funds to complete a behind-schedule project to rehabilitate the country’s railway network, this time to newly appointed Australian Ambassador Alison Burrows, according to a ministry spokesman. While work on the Southern Line of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hor-namhong-asks-for-more-cash-for-rail-project-30272/
Families Left Worse off After Railway Project
Phnom Penh families being pushed to the city’s outskirts to make way for a $142.6 million railway renovation project funded by Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are falling into debt and finding it harder to earn money and access healthcare according to a ...
ADB Says Hydropower Growth Won’t Match Need for Oil, Coal
Cambodia’s reliance on imported fossil fuels to meet its energy needs is set to increase in the coming years, despite the raft of hydropower projects planned by the government, according to new data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Using baseline figures from the Institute ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-says-hydropower-growth-wont-match-need-for-oil-coal-28794/
ADB advises region to combine grids
Cambodia is expected to be able to produce about half the energy it needs by 2035, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but the Kingdom – along with its neighbours – should also consider integrating their energy grids, which would bring about more competitive ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013053165966/Business/adb-advises-region-to-combine-grids.html
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached. Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html