The Phnom Penh Post
Coal outgrows hydropower
As Cambodia’s demand for electricity grows and domestic energy production increases, new data released from the Ministry of Mines and Energy yesterday show that coal-fired energy generation surpassed hydroelectricity for the first time last year. ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/coal-outgrows-hydropower
Capital’s income levels set to soar
Phnom Penh’s median household income could swell to surpass the projected level of Bangkok within 15 years if the city’s rapid urbanisation is properly managed through effective policymaking and adequate city planning, according to a new study. ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/capitals-income-levels-set-soar
Tax change to benefit employees
The government’s tax collection body has extended the fringe benefit tax exemption to several new industries, removing the 20-percent tax that employers were previously required to pay on the benefits they offered to their workers. ...
Kali Kotoski and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tax-change-benefit-employees
Organisation seeks women to study in US
A US-based organisation that helps young women from post-conflict countries attend school in the United States is currently seeking Cambodian applicants who have the academic strength and leadership potential that could land them in a top US school. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/organisation-seeks-women-study-us
Amid $1.9M gift, CMAC boss tempers US aid comments
Seemingly backing away from previous criticism, Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodia Mine Action Centre (CMAC), expressed gratitude to the US on Friday for pledging another $1.9 million to the organisation, while still implying that Cambodia is not treated as well as its neighbouring countries. ...
Andrew Nachemson and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amid-19m-gift-cmac-boss-tempers-us-aid-comments
Divide over union law
Ten pro-government unions on Friday released statements in support of Cambodia’s recently passed Trade Union Law, just days after two independent unions held a meeting to discuss hoped-for changes to the contentious legislation. The independent unions met last week to compile a list of amendments to ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/divide-over-union-law
National Election Committee voter registration passes halfway mark
More than half of Cambodia’s 9.6 million eligible voters had been registered as of Saturday, despite the National Election Committee reporting that heavy rains had dampened the pace of registrations recently. Updated figures released on the weekend show that 4.9 million voters had registered in the ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/national-election-committee-voter-registration-passes-halfway-mark
Loans trickle out to rice millers
Three weeks since Prime Minister Hun Sen approved $27 million in emergency loans to prop up the struggling rice sector, the state-owned bank charged with disbursing the funds said yesterday that it has only granted $1 million in loans, claiming that the number of eligible ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/loans-trickle-out-rice-millers
Fair aims to firm up trade with Vietnam
A five-day trade fair for Vietnamese products kicked off on Koh Pich in Phnom Penh yesterday, coming on the heels of recent government figures that show declines in bilateral trade and investment between Cambodia and Vietnam. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fair-aims-firm-trade-vietnam
Gov’t scoops up more mining revenue
In the first eight months of the year the Ministry of Mines and Energy has already surpassed its annual target for non-tax revenue collection from sand dredging and construction material-related mining operations, collecting 117 percent of the $6.6 million outlined in the 2016 national budget, ...
Kali Kotoski and Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/govt-scoops-more-mining-revenue
Sokha leaves CNRP HQ to register, raising hopes of thaw
After four months hiding inside CNRP headquarters to avoid arrest, deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha briefly emerged from his sanctuary yesterday to register to vote, telling supporters he believed months of rising political tensions were starting to dissipate. ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sokha-leaves-cnrp-hq-register-raising-hopes-thaw
Heavy rains to continue
Five days of heavy rain flooded rice fields in Prey Veng and Svay Rieng provinces and some residential areas around Phnom Penh, causing capital residents to question when the city’s long-in-the-works sewage upgrade will finally be completed. More rainfall is expected to flood the country’s northern ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/heavy-rains-continue
Banking liquidity tool moves to weekly issuance
Cambodia’s central bank yesterday launched a weekly issuance of Negotiable Certificate of Deposits (NCD) with selling scheduled for every Wednesday – a move aimed at developing the interbank lending market by promoting a secondary market for the short-term interest-bearing certificates. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/banking-liquidity-tool-moves-weekly-issuance
ADB to muscle up its lending with pledge of $1B
Cambodia could receive over $1 billion in developmental aid and grant funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the coming four years as the multilateral financial institution consolidates its lending arms and scales up operations across the region – a move that some analysts ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/adb-muscle-its-lending-pledge-1b
National debt hits $5.7B, but deemed manageable
Cambodia’s national debt stood at $5.7 billion as of the end of June, totalling about a third of GDP, according to a report on the national budget submitted to the National Assembly yesterday. ...
Cam McGrath and Sorn Sarath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/national-debt-hits-57b-deemed-manageable
New pangolin protections announced
Yesterday was hailed as a “good day for pangolins” after a meeting of signatories to the CITES wildlife protection treaty decided to move the Asian species of “scaly anteater” to the agreement’s Appendix 1 category, which bans all commercial trade in the small mammals in ...
Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-pangolin-protections-announced
China MoU to help ‘reform’ judiciary
China has signed an agreement to assist the Kingdom with judicial reforms and to share expertise in overhauling such systems, though one international expert yesterday cautioned that China shouldn’t be considered “a model for justice reform in Cambodia”. ...
Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/china-mou-help-reform-judiciary
Cambodia will chair LDC bureau at WTO
Cambodia has been selected to chair the Global Coordination Bureau of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) next year, state-owned media outlet AKP reported yesterday. ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodia-will-chair-ldc-bureau-wto
NEC denies request for time off for workers
The National Election Committee (NEC) has thrown cold water on a request by the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) that it permit garment workers extra time off to register in their home provinces without receiving a pay cut, according to a letter posted on the NEC’s ...
Bun Sengkong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nec-denies-request-time-workers
Life insurer targets low-income workers
An obscure NGO is providing life insurance coverage to low-income individuals, mostly garment workers, offering a financial safety net for the families of its policyholders, but triggering the concern of insurance regulators who take issue to its unlicensed operations. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/life-insurer-targets-low-income-workers
Sustainable energy options for Cambodia discussed
Representatives from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the Ministry of Environment and a handful of climate advocates met in Phnom Penh yesterday to brainstorm ways the country can transition to a “sustainable energy future”. ...
Cristina Maza
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sustainable-energy-options-cambodia-discussed
Innovation for a fruitful harvest
The integration of technology into Cambodia’s agricultural sector is vital to increase the competitiveness and overall performance of the Kingdom’s harvest, but efforts to push for widespread adoption of innovative solutions has been slow to take off, industry experts and stakeholders said at a forum ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/innovation-fruitful-harvest
Japan gives $32M for UXO projects, Phnom Penh buses
Japan has pledged to help fund three projects in Cambodia with a grant totalling about $31.9 million. Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Long Visalo met with Japanese Ambassador to Cambodia Yuji Kumamaru yesterday for a signing ceremony to officially award the funding. One of ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/japan-gives-32m-uxo-projects-phnom-penh-buses
Bank trims rate to coax millers
The state-owned bank entrusted with extending $27 million in emergency loans to millers to purchase rice paddy has marginally lowered the interest rate on these conditional loans in an effort to shorten some of the strings attached. The Rural Development Bank (RDB) announced late on Sunday ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/bank-trims-rate-coax-millers