Credit in Banking Sector Surpasses $4B in 2011
Loan disbursals in Cambodia’s banking sector increased by 33 percent to more than $4 billion last year, as credit to the housing market and agricultural sector saw the largest amount of growth, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said in its annual report, released yesterday. While ...
Greener Pastures
Market competition resulting from costly domestic rice remains a key factor driving Thai exporters to seek openings in neighbouring countries where the rice trade is more prosperous. Exporters say their performance was weak last year, mirroring the country’s overall decline in rice exports, which plunged ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/335303/greener-pastures
Trade Deficit Up 34 Percent On Last Year
Cambodia’s trade deficit in the first half of the year grew 34.31 percent compared with the same period in 2011, reaching $1.36 billion, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce. Though revenues earned from exports grew 12.13 percent to about $2.50 billion, a growing ...
Senate Oks Sesan Dam Payment Deal
After a 60- minute debate, the Senate on Friday voted in favour of a payment guarantee for the private companies constructing the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province. At the Senate session, 43 out of 48 senators voted to approve the deal which ...
Strongman's hand in BHP deal
A BHP Billiton mining deal being investigated for alleged corruption was personally overseen by Cambodian strongman Hun Sen, diplomatic cables reveal. The miner’s aborted attempt to establish a bauxite mine in Cambodia, and its hospitality program for Chinese officials at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, are at ...
http://www.smh.com.au/national/strongmans-hand-in-bhp-deal-20130325-2gqae.html
Trafficked numbers rising
Their stories have become all too familiar – Cambodian fishermen enslaved on fishing boats after being promised lucrative jobs overseas. They’re also becoming increasingly common. Anti-trafficking NGOs told the Post this week that they have noticed an exponential increase in the number of trafficking complaints from ...
Danson Cheong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265773/National/trafficked-numbers-rising.html
Paths to Parliament Cleared for CPP’s Powerful Sons
Despite failing to win enough votes in the July 28 election to become lawmakers, at least three sons of some of the ruling CPP’s most high-ranking members will still take up seats in Parliament when the next government is formed, senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap ...
Neou Vannarin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/paths-to-parliament-cleared-for-cpps-powerful-sons-38716/
Mfone value is revised
Althought the initial book value – purchase cost minus depreciation – of the assets of bankrupt Cambodian telecommunications firm Mfone was estimated at $105 million, employee representatives claim the estimated market value is closer to $30 million to $40 million. Bou Kunthea, an Mfone employee representative, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013040264827/Business/mfone-value-is-revised.html
New Governor Promises to Solve Land Disputes
Phnom Penh’s new governor used his swearing in ceremony to Friday to boldly vow to solve some of the municipality’s longest-running and most high-emotive land disputes. Pa Socheatvong officially took over on Friday from outgoing governor Kep Chuktema, who served as the city’s chief for 10 ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-governor-promises-to-solve-land-disputes-21897/
Solar panels see sunny times ahead
Officials and business people say solar panels are gaining in popularity in rural areas, where the power grid does not reach. Mao Sangat, director of Solar Energy Cambodia, told the Post yesterday that his company saw increases of installation of solar power systems for families whose ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052165730/Business/solar-panels-see-sunny-times-ahead.html
US envoy calls for party talks
Peaceful and constructive dialogue will enable the ruling and opposition parties to “overcome the current impasse”, US ambassador to Cambodia William Todd has said. In a frank column in local media on Sunday, linked to from the US embassy in Phnom Penh’s website, Todd said the ...
Meas Sokchea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-envoy-calls-party-talks
Russian Boulevard land prices rising
The west end of Street 110, also known as Russian Boulevard, is attracting increasing interest from investors and retailers because of its vital role connecting Phnom Penh International Airport with the city centre. Local real estate experts estimate that land prices along the thoroughfare have risen ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/real-estate/russian-boulevard-land-prices-rising
Mekong Countries Agree to Expedite Dam Study
The Mekong River Commission’s (MRC) study on the potential long-term effects of large-scale dam building on the Mekong River needs to be expedited, members of the MRC agreed at the Fifth Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo on Saturday. However, they did not set a date for the ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mekong-countries-agree-to-expedite-dam-study-49360/
Provinces to get protest sites
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng yesterday called on authorities in each province and municipality to ease demonstrations in the capital by creating a site for non-violent protests ahead of a planned opposition rally on Saturday. In a two-page letter sent to provincial officials, Kheng – who ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/provinces-get-protest-sites
Boeng Kak Activists Protest State Violence Against Women
Less than a week after she was released from prison pending a retrial on controversial criminal charges laid down last year, housing rights activist Yorm Bopha on Thursday led a march of about 500 people to deliver a petition calling on the government to end ...
Khuon Narim and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-activists-protest-state-violence-against-women-48194/
Businessmen Charged Over Mining Deal Fraud
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has charged the Cambodian chairman of a local conglomerate and a Chinese business associate with fraud and using forged public documents, officials said Wednesday. Al Romny, 41, and Chinese national Chin Mongxin, 45, were arrested Saturday after an unknown complainant said ...
Eang Mengleng and Simon Lewis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/businessmen-charged-over-mining-deal-fraud-41261/
Tycoon back in firing line
For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities. In a report set to be released today by the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-back-firing-line
Planned Mekong dams need environmental assessment
The Cambodian government’s plan to build 20 dams along the Mekong River, with a view to boosting energy security, could harm food security and biodiversity in the region, as well as ignite a regional conflict over sharing of the river’s water, a conference has heard. ...
SciDev.Net News Staff
http://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/water/news/planned-mekong-dams-need-environmental-assessment.html
Pchum Ben Prayers for Peace, Prosperity and Reconciliation
Some prayed for their businesses to prosper and for the CPP and CNRP to reconcile, others for peace and development. These and other wishes were made at pagodas across Phnom Penh and the rest of the country on Thursday, as the Pchum Ben festival got ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pchum-ben-prayers-for-peace-prosperity-and-reconciliation-44421/
SL Garment Protesters Gain Little From Talks at Labor Ministry
A two-day meeting between union leaders, senior government officials and representatives of the SL Garment Factory failed Tuesday to reach a solution for factory workers, who have been on strike since early August and on Monday demonstrated in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Phnom ...
Ben Woods and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sl-garment-protesters-gain-little-from-talks-at-labor-ministry-45708/