The Phnom Penh Post

Branchless banking, including mobile banking, is one of the hottest trends in Cambodia’s microfinance industry, helping financial institutions deliver their products conveniently and affordably to people living in rural areas, industry insiders said yesterday.   ...

The first comprehensive survey of the accessibility and usage of Cambodian financial services found that only 17 per cent of the Kingdom’s adult population is banked, with poor access to financial services among the key impediments to financial inclusion of those living in rural areas. ...

Revenue collected by the customs and excise department jumped nearly 20 per cent during the first six months of the year, compared with the same period a year earlier, figures released yesterday show. ...

The National Election Committee yesterday released a monthly meeting schedule with the European and Japanese embassies in a bid to ensure the voter-registration process, due to begin September 1, will go smoothly.   ...

Upgrades to National Road 1 are expected to be completed by March 2017, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. ...

The Ministry of Commerce yesterday announced it was lowering the price ceiling on gasoline sold at retail petrol stations across the Kingdom between July 12 and 21 after the latest scheduled recalculation of fuel caps.   ...

Banking industry insiders expressed concern yesterday over a spike in the amount of delinquent debts reported by microfinance institutions (MFIs) across the Kingdom, which they attributed to farmers struggling to repay their loans after adverse weather conditions affected their crops. ...

After a mass escape of 70 inmates from the notorious Prey Speu centre on Sunday, the government said they would take mentally ill people rounded up off the streets and house them on the same site as a Kandal orphanage.   ...

The teeth of some 60,000 Cambodian children have been “sealed” to help prevent tooth decay under an oral health project that recently concluded, but many more continue to be in need of such service, given the country’s significantly high tooth-decay rate. ...

A new report by market research firm TNS identifies five triggers that acted together as catalysts for the dramatic changes in consumer behaviour that led to China’s “explosive” e-commerce growth, and suggests other Asian economies could be on the same trajectory. ...

A second pair of endangered pileated gibbons released into the forest near Angkor Wat last year have had a baby. ...

A Japanese businessman has acquired a majority stake of microfinance company Farmer Union Development Fund (FUDF) and plans to expand its lending to the real estate sector as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises, he revealed yesterday. ...

Cambodian rice exports decreased nearly 6 per cent year-on-year during the first semester, reinforcing concerns about the future of the rice industry, the Kingdom’s most important agricultural sector.   ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday issued a statement reiterating government policy laid out expressly by Prime Minister Hun Sen in recent speeches, saying Cambodia will not support Tuesday’s expected arbitration decision at the Hague in the South China Sea territorial dispute between China ...

Local industry experts responded yesterday to a new report that warns the majority of Cambodia’s garment sector workers could lose their jobs in the coming two decades as automation and innovative technologies replace low-skilled labour and allow multinational producers to move their operations closer to ...

Cambodian parents are commonly using medicinal balms and oils such as “Tiger Balm” on their newborn children despite potentially toxic effects, according to a new report.   ...

A key donor to the Cambodian Human Rights Action Coalition (CHRAC) has suspended its funding, citing operational concerns even as other revenue sources are seemingly drying up for the organisation.   ...

Pan-Asian gaming company Entertainment Gaming Asia Inc (EGA) will sell 670 of its electronic gaming machine (EGM) seats placed at NagaWorld casino in Phnom Penh to an unnamed Cambodian firm for $2.5 million, the Nasdaq-listed company announced on Wednesday. ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s family has amassed a “vast fortune”, with stakes in at least 114 domestic companies spanning most of the Kingdom’s key sectors, including major energy, telecoms, mining and trading firms, according to an investigation by Global Witness, which accuses the Hun ...

New trade privileges that allow Cambodian-manufactured travel goods duty-free access to the United States for the first time could see exports of these items increase by over 400 per cent in the coming years, industry experts said yesterday. ...

Australian-listed mining firm GeoPacific announced its first resource estimate on its copper-gold project in northern Cambodia, estimating 51,000 tonnes of copper equivalent at two adjacent prospects on its Kou Sa project site. ...

Cambodia will be conducting its third comprehensive and inclusive population census in March 2018. For any country, the population census is the first source of information that provides facts about the size of the population, the different age groups, the geographic distribution, the ethnical minorities ...

Tourists heading for Angkor Wat will have to watch what they wear from next month onwards, the Apsara Authority announced yesterday.   ...

The latest provincial tourism figures show efforts to establish Sihanoukville as a premiere beach destination may be paying off, with more tourists flocking to the coastal city than ever before. ...