Banking and financial services

Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that he has requested a $140 million loan from China to build a 190 km road that would branch off National Road 5 and allow easier access to Thailand. The request comes just one month after Mr. Hun Sen returned ...

The executive committee of the Alliance of Rice Producers and Exporters of Cambodia, ARPEC, decided earlier this month to set up a commercial arm to help members get financing for a variety of rice-related activities. According to ARPEC secretary-general Hun Lak and deputy secretary-general David Van, ...

Representatives of Cambodia’s booming tourism industry yesterday called on the Asian Development Bank to provide funding for workforce training in the sector. During the meeting at the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, tour operator Ho Vandy, who also co-chairs the Tourism Working Group in the Government-Private Sector Forum, said representatives ...

More than 100 NGOs and human rights groups yesterday urged foreign donors to flag issues regarding land policies, democratic processes and human rights during today’s Government-Development Partner Coordinating Committee (GDCC) meeting.   Intended as a preparatory meeting for Cambodia’s main government and donor summit, the GDCC is generally ...

With a loan from Japan, the government will begin laying more than 400 km of fiber-optic cable early next year to connect Phnom Penh with five provinces, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC) said yesterday. Telecommunication Minister So Khun said the cable-which will connect Phnom Penh with ...

Among thousands of residents in the Boeung Kak Lake district of the capital whose land has been targeted for redevelopment by a Chinese-financed real estate company, Tep Vanny carried a letter explaining the “sadness and suffering” caused by the project — which has turned Phnom ...

The foreign commercial arbitration case between South Korean Kookmin Bank and World City Asset Management and World City, two real-estate development firms, has been received by the Cambodian Court of Appeals. World City Asset Management received a loan from Kookmin bank in Korea in 2007 to ...

Despite the recent spate of high-profile arrests and deportations, analysts, attorneys and civil society groups are divided on whether the Kingdom is finally beginning to live down its reputation as a haven for the fugitives and criminals who have long been drawn to the country ...

The story of Cambodia’s microfinance sector has been one of successful evolution, evidenced by the growing number of lenders and their continual development. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) started as NGO-like entities, but the industry has come a long way. Today, there are 32 MFIs licensed ...

Two weeks after Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from China with more than half a billion dollars in new loans and grants, Cambodia once again asked Beijing for money on Thursday. In a bilateral discussion held alongside this week’s series of meetings between Asean energy ministers, ...

CIMB Bank Thai (CIMBT) clients will one day able to use ATMs for financial transactions anywhere in Asean. The regional linkage of ATMs is aimed at improving service and cost efficiency as a part of the CIMB Group’s regional strategy. Executive vice-president Dusanee Klewpatinontha said Cambodia has ...

After experiencing decades of floods, Cambodia’s microfinance institutions say they no longer have problems disbursing loans during the rainy season, according to the head of Cambodia’s Microfinance Association (CMA). A survey issued early this year by a coterie of international aid organisations, including Oxfam, Care, PACT ...

China has done a lot to support Cambodia over the years, with millions of dollars in aid, loans and investment. But after reports last week that China has pledged another $500 million in soft loans and grants-and publicly thanked Cambodia for its support in Southeast ...

Acleda Bank has signed a $US10 million loan agreement   with Proparco, a development finance institution held in part by the Agence Francaise de Développement (AFD), according to a statement released on Wednesday. With the Kingdom’s financial sector expanding rapidly and a growing demand for banking and ...

The rumour mill has been in overdrive regarding the arrest of The Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg; however, various government officials yesterday shunned the conspiracy theories. Tom Abrahamsson, head of administrative and consular matters at the Swedish Embassy in Phnom Penh, refuted speculation that Svartholm ...

As much as local people are benefiting from the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) recovery project following last year’s record floods, they aren’t receiving all the benefits they could, according to some accounts. Operating in five provinces of Cambodia to restore road access to those affected by the floods, ...

Sweden loaned Cambodia US$57 million yesterday for economic country development and cooperation for the duration of 2012-2013. The agreement was made between Cambodia’s Economic Minister Keat Chhon and Swedish ambassador to Cambodia Anne Hoglund at the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) yesterday morning. Keat Chhon ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday urged companies intending to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) to buy insurance to bolster public confidence. Vice President Bo Chanpiro of the Financial Industry Department of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said the finance sector relies not only ...

Private companies and state enterprises are expected to raise large amounts of funds via the stock exchanges in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia over the next several years. More private firms will list on the Cambodian and Laotian bourses next year, their executives told media yesterday at ...

A breached flood protection dyke near Prey Ven city that, had it burst during the disastrous 2011 flooding, would have added a further 30,000 to the almost 52,000 households evacuated, is one project nearing completion in Cambodia’s Flood Damage Emergency Reconstruction Project. But the Asian Development ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen returned home yesterday from a quick trip to Beijing with the promise of some $523 million in new loans and grants, one day after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jabao praised Cambodia for helping China maintain “friendly relations” with Asean. Speaking with ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has returned home from his trip to China a wealthier leader having secured upwards of US$2.5 billion in Chinese investment and loans over the next year alone, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The package includes a $2 billion ...

China has pledged more than $500 million in soft loans and grants to Cambodia and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao thanked it for helping Beijing maintain good relations with the regional grouping ASEAN, a Cambodian junior minister said. A summit of the 10 members of the Association ...

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) will soon begin a national payment system that will allow the clearance of checks at all banks within a day, as well as facilitate intra-bank electronic payments, Nguon Sokha, director general of the NBC, said yesterday. Through the establishment of the national ...