News

The government is beset with high-level corruption, a lack of transparency in public procurements, poor auditing practices and political interference in the country’s main anti-corruption body, a report produced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) sent to the media yesterday states. In a 66-page report that ...

The government collected more than $1.4 billion in revenues during the first nine months of the year, a 27 percent increase over the same period last year, figures released Thursday by the Ministry of Economy and Finance show. According to the Table of Government Financial Operations ...

Lawmakers at the National Assembly yesterday debated the government’s plan for public spending next year, with the opposition challenging the government’s plans to rack up more foreign debt. Since the draft of the 2013 budget was released last month, the opposition has come forward with detailed ...

The opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) has requested the National Assembly to reduce by 75 percent the amount of new debt the government is allowed to take on next year under the latest draft of the 2013 national budget. Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay, who sent the ...

Cambodian officials have refused to establish a specialised bank for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) despite experts saying the sector needs aid in order to compete efficiently with ASEAN economic integration in 2015. Hang Chounnaron, secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Cambodia would ...

While Cambodia’s insurance sector has made significant progress over the past few years, it is still relatively small compared to other countries in the region and faces several hurdles. That was the judgment of Bou Chanphirou, deputy director of the financial industry department in the ...

Five metric tonnes of certified organic rice — the first such shipment from Cambodia — will depart for the European Union this Friday. The shipment, exported from Cambodia by an entity called Green Trade, comprises three tonnes of brown rice and two tonnes of white jasmine ...

Increasing the tobacco retail tax — one of the world’s lowest at 10 per cent of unit price for domestically produced cigarettes — would deter smokers and increase government revenue while having minimal effect on tobacco producers, Ayda Yurekli, co-ordinator for the World Health Organization’s ...

Heng Chheang, the jailed ex-deputy general director of senator Kok An’s Anco Brothers Co, may have been improperly convicted of embezzling more than US$58 million from the tycoon, according to a letter sent to the Supreme Court from the Ministry of Economy and Finance last ...

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 ...

Cambodia’s businesses need to dramatically improve their accounting standards if they are to attract interest from investors abroad and reach the standards necessary to list on the recently launched stock market, experts and government officials said yesterday. Speaking at the National Conference on Accountancy in Phnom ...

Cambodia’s government yesterday announced it had chosen the largest local bank, Acleda Bank Plc, to be its partner for vehicle tax stamp sales. Acleda will operate for the General Department of Taxation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance in all 23 provinces and Phnom Penh.   Sim Eang, royal ...

Two financing agreements, implemented by the French Development Agency, were signed on 12 July 2012 at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, in the presence of the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy and Finance, H.E.M. Keat Chhon, to support two key sectors for economic and rural development of Cambodia. A financing agreement of 800,000 Euros (1 ...

Cambodia has offered the license for the United Kingdom’s Prudential Company to invest the life insurance in the kingdom. The announcement was made during the meeting between UK ambassador to Cambodia Mark Gooding and deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, his excellency Keat Chhon in Phnom Penh. “Ministry granted the approval for ...

Prudential Corporation Asia yesterday received “in-principle” approval from the Ministry of Economy and Finance to establish a foreign-owned life insurance operation in the country, an official statement from the company said. The announcement comes after Canadian life insurance giant Manulife on Thursday made public plans for ...

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 ...

A new, government-owned life insurance company aims to provide a safety net for Cambodian families, according to In Meatra, director-general of the Cambodia Life Insurance Company Plc. Located on the 21st floor of Canadia Tower, Cambodia Life opened on May 21 and has 23 employees.  “Cambodia ...

The number of licensed pawnshops in the country has surged since the government began registering them in 2010, leaving some pawnbrokers claiming revenue losses of 30 to 50 percent due to oversaturation in the market. Ly Seng Cheng, a pawnbroker at the Khlaing Rum Sev pawnshop ...

A new lottery company, Naga Lottery owned by the same company that operates Phnom Penh’s NagaWorld, will launch its first product on June 8, an official press release said yesterday. The company was licensed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance in October last year said executive director ...

The Kingdom’s first life insurance company, Cambodian Life, launched yesterday, courting a market almost entirely unfamiliar with the service. Industry insiders said demand for the products would need time to grow. The establishment of Cambodian Life in the Kingdom would develop confidence in the market and ...

The Ministry of Economy and Finance yesterday signed a US$60.3 million loan package with Asian Development Bank to aid in reconstruction efforts after the Kingdom last year suffered its worst floods in a decade. ...

PHNOM PENH: The 8th Cambodia-Asia Economic Forum kicked off here on Saturday, focusing on reviewing the ASEAN achievements in the past 45 years and looking at opportunities and challenges toward the realisation of an ASEAN community by 2015. The two-day forum has been attending by some ...

Cambodia’s first initial public offering is fast approaching, and demand is expected to be robust. Bookbuilding, the process during which bids are taken and a price set for shares, ended last Wednesday for Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA). The final offering price will be announced ...

CSX chief executive Hong Sok Hour explains how the exchange will function on its first day of trading and into the future. The way to begin trading on the CSX is to open an account with any one of a dozen securities firms which are licensed ...