Economics Today

It’s after midnight in Sihanoukville and British teenagers are clogging the walkways, pushing past one another to drain free shots at the bars. In Kep, elderly French tourists sun themselves at the upscale Sailing Club while Spaniards and Germans eye the offerings at Phnom Penh’s Central Market. In spite of the growing fears ...

Two consecutive months of drought have severely damaged thousands of hectares of rice fields in Krokor district and neighboring areas in Pursat province. ...

Cambodia’s Soma Group yesterday signed a US$3-million deal with Indian company Ankur Scientific, the largest biomass-to-energy company in India, to construct a 1.5-megawatt rice husk power plant in Kampong Cham province. ...

At one time, palm oil production stirred a lot of excitement in Cambodia. Perhaps hoping to follow in the footsteps of palm oil giants Malaysia or Indonesia, more than 10 firms in Cambodia registered for land concessions for palm cultivation around a decade ago. Today, there is one left. The others decided palm ...

The number of cases of foot-and-mouth disease dropped significantly in first six months of 2012 compared with the three previous years, according to new report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). However, the report’s authors say the disease is still a problem for Cambodian farmers, especially owners of small farms, and can severely ...

Vietnam and Cambodia have set a target of US$5 billion in bilateral trade by 2015 as the countries’ economic relationship deepens. However, some wonder if such an ambitious goal is realistic, especially given the government’s desire to realize US$5 billion in annual trade with China by 2017. The goal was announced at a June 24 ...

The supply of second-tier office space has increased during the first half of 2012 as the number of new firms in Phnom Penh city continues to grow, according to real estate experts. A study by Asia Real Estate Cambodia (ARC) found that office space in the “grade B” category now stands at ...

Inside a nondescript villa in central Phnom Penh, men and women in white lab coats peer through lenses, carefully studying the magnified objects in front of them. But these aren’t biologists researching cell division or bacteria; these are gem testers concerned with inclusions and refractive indices on rubies, sapphires and other precious stones. They are working ...

In 2011, the actual amount of domestic revenue collected during the year did not reach the set target, while actual budget expenditure exceeded the planned amount. As a result, the overall budget deficit grew to 7-3 percent of GDP in 2011. For 2012 and 2013, while the execution of ...

The Federation of Cambodia Rice Exporters, a new government-backed association of rice exporters which aims to bring together all the players in the rice sector to boost exports, formed on June 21 and elected Kim Savuth, president of Khmer Food Co., as its first president. The election saw Kim Savuth receiving 53 of ...

Property prices in both in Phnom Penh and the surrounding suburbs have increased around 10 percent in the first half of 2012 as more foreign investors buy up new condominiums and banks provide more housing loans, say real estate experts. After years of flat prices due to weak demand in the wake of ...

A large majority of Cambodian small and medium-sized enterprises are operating without conducting good market research, say experts in the field, and relying too heavily on informal information and networks. As a result, they are growing slowly and in some cases, falling behind their competitors. Market research involves gathering information about markets and customers. Laurent Notin, ...

The price of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) stock varied only slightly between June 14 to June 21-hovering between KHR 6,600 (US$1.62) and KHR 6,700 (US$1.64). The relative stability tells investors that the stock is approaching its fundamental price, which experts say is between KHR 4,050 (US$0.99) and KHR 6,350 (US$1.56). ...

Sitting in front of her small house in the Chey Thorn commune of Kandal province, 35-year-old Sokhun’s face is etched with worry. She would like to plant crops on her four hectares of land, but she only has enough money to cultivate two of them. She could go to a microfinance finance institution ...

Imports of packaged monosodium glutamate (MSG) decreased noticeably in the first four months of this year, not because Cambodians are turning away from the popular flavor enhancer, but because a local packaging factory is increasingly meeting domestic demand. Figures from the customs department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance revealed that from January ...

The real growth rate of the industry sector has been revised downwardly by half a percentage point against the previous estimate to 8.8 percent year-on-year in 2012. A scaling down of the growth estimate of the textile and garment sub sector, as a result of persistently weaker demand in the European and US ...

This week the price of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority Stock dropped continually from KHR 7,000 (US$1.72) on June 7 until it stopped and stayed at KHR 6,8oo (US$1.67) from June 11 to June 13. On June 13, the stock’s price at the market’s opening and ...

Stevia Nutra Corporation, a Canadian agro-business company, has announced its decision to grow stevia in Cambodia’s Kampong Speu province. The company will grow the plant, whose leaves are used as a sweetener or sugar substitute, on just over 20 hectares of land close to Phnom Penh. Stevia Nutra has incorporated Mighty MekongAgro Industries Co. Ltd, ...

Near the river in Phnom Penh and next to Diamond Island, there’s a huge, bunker-like building that is almost always a beehive of activity. Inside, there are people enjoying an evening concert or strolling around studying the decor, including large stone faces of the Buddha. Others, however, are occupied with more mundane matters-placing ...

The growth prospects of the Cambodian economy in 2012 remain moderate, as has been expected. Cambodia’s real Gross Domestic Product (GOP) is estimated to grow at a rate of 6.2 percent year-on-year, which is unchanged from our estimation at the beginning of this year. Persistently weaker demand in the European and US markets remain the ...

While the Kingdom’s biggest industrial pig farming company is seeing steady growth as the nation’s population and hunger for pork grows, small pig farmers are having a hard time of it in the face of fluctuating prices and lower cost imports from Thailand, according to experts and insiders who came to a recent ...

More than 200 people in Cambodia’s eastern Svay Rieng province were hospitalized after eating imported vegetables from Vietnam that were not properly washed or cooked, the French-based Pasteur Institute of Cambodia has confirmed after running tests. The case has highlighted an already acknowledged need for more domestic vegetable production and less dependency on imported produce. The ...

Loans and deposits at Cambodia’s 31 commercial banks grew 35 percent and 25 percent respectively in the first quarter of the year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia ...

Inside a mini-mart near Phnom Penh’s Olympic stadium, the shelves holding the beer for sale have a more Cambodian feel to them these days. While imported brand like Thailand’s Singha and Japan’s Asahi, used to take up valuable retail real estate, now homegrown brands like Angkor ...