ព័ត៌មាន
US, Cambodia to sign off on $20m in aid projects
The US is scheduled today to sign off on another $20 million in funding for aid projects in Cambodia, according to a US Embassy statement issued yesterday. One project will “strengthen the ability of civil society, the private sector, and the government to address food security ...
Fund raising: Kingdom may borrow more in 2012
Cambodia could borrow US$1.1 billion from other countries in 2012, 75 per cent more than this year, to help repair infrastructure damaged in flooding and support efforts to increase rice exports to one million tonnes by 2015, a senior official said yesterday. Cheam Yeap, chairman of ...
Cambodia's debt to China grows to $4 billion, official says
Cambodian debt to China now stands at $4 billion, 35 percent of last year’s gross domestic product and more than half of the country’s total outstanding debt to foreign donors, according to a senior government official. The amount of money Cambodia owes China has been growing ...
Exports up despite EU crisis
While sovereign debt crises in Europe and a lagging US economy have yet to curtail cheap Cambodian exports, industry watchers said domestic producers should diversify their target markets to avoid a future slow down. Exports saw a more than 40 per cent increase year-on-year between January ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011102052246/Business/exports-up-despite-eu-crisis.html
Foreign donors slow on giving flood aid
As tens of thousands of families continue to struggle with ongoing flooding, delays are still hampering the provision of overseas aid, with some donors holding back on distributing funds. China flew in two planes, laden with supplies worth $8 million, over the weekend and the South ...
Petroleum engineers to provide support to Cambodia
At a Sept 11 meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Ganesh C. Thakur, President of the U.S.-based Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), plans were discussed about the SPE providing training and expertise for the Kingdom’s oil and gas sector, according to a statement ...
IMF says GDP will grow to 6.7 percent this year
The International Monetary Fund yesterday estimated that economic growth in Cambodia would reach 6.7 percent this year, though it warned that a slowdown in the US and Europe could lead to a dip in the economy. In its world economic outlook, the IMF also predicted that ...
Illegally shut factories could face penalties
Twenty-two factories that did not take the appropriate measures to shut down their businesses have 30 days in which to rectify the problem or face legal action from the government, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) said in a public announcement yesterday The announcement ...
Kingdom awaits US trade law
The US House of Representatives has renewed a trade law experts said could have a substantial effect on Cambodia’s exports to the United States, as well as the future of the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector. The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program waived tariffs on about US$13 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011091251593/Business/kingdom-awaits-us-trade-law.html
Investment by China Doubles In First Half
Cambodia approved $1.2 billion in investments from China in the first six months of the year, a 104 percent increase in the amount of Chinese money set to flood into the economy compared to the same period last year, the Cambodian Investment Board said. The ...
Minister asks for export break
Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh yesterday called on the US to allow duty-free entry for Cambodian exports, a benefit the Kingdom already enjoyed with the European Union. The introduction of preferential tax treatment from the US would result in the Kingdom’s share of that country’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090751485/Business/minister-asks-for-export-break.html
Labour draft law revamped
The government has dropped controversial criminal penalties targeting unionists in its latest draft of the union law, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said yesterday. Addressing a meeting of representatives of international apparel brands, including Nike, Adidas and PUMA, unions, government officials and the International Labour Organisation, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011090751499/National-news/labour-draft-law-revamped.html
Minister wants e-trade by end of year
Cambodian government officials have called on the US-ASEAN Business Council to help finalise implementation of the Kingdom’s first e-commerce law by year’s end. However, US-ASEAN Business Council councillor Frances Zwening said Google did not provide an “in-depth response” to the request for assistance, but added ...
Activists, Journalist Summoned Over Incitement
Ratanakkiri Provincial Court has summoned for questioning two rights group activists and a journalist over charges that they incited ethnic minority villagers in Lumphat district to violence in 2009, a court official said yesterday. The case against the three men – Adhoc provincial coordinator Pen ...
US Fortune 500 Firms Wrap Up Cambodia Visit
A US-Asean Business Council delegation representing 11 fortune 500 companies concluded a two-day visit to Phnom Penh on Saturday, the council said in a statement. With Cambodia scheduled to take the chairmanship of Asean next year, members from US companies such as Chevron, GE, Abbot, ...
USAID Report Offers New Way to Protect Prey Long Forest
The government should abandon its current management of Prey Long forest and shift to a plan that conserves the forst while also optimizing its economic uses, such as agriculture, carbon credits and controlled timber exploitation, according to a recent report by the US Agency for ...
Land Grabs Mar Cambodia’s Investment Boom
The evictions and so-called “land grabs” have angered aid donors, putting at stake hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid as well as a trade scheme that gives Cambodian produce tariff-free access to the EU. International donors and lenders such as the World Bank ...
US firms eye new markets in the Kingdom
VISA, Mastercard, Dell and Cisco Systems have been added to a growing list of US companies looking to enter the Cambodian market, according to Frances Zwenig, counsellor of the US-ASEAN Business Council. The financial services and information technology companies joined GE, Chevron, Johnson & Johnson ...
Rice Scheme Will Hurt Thais and Help Vietnam
Thailand–Consumers face prospect of high prices, low quality rice from Burma, Cambodia: TDRI. While consumers and taxpayers will suffer from the government’s controversial rice policy, Vietnam will substantially gain, the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) has warned. Ammar Siamwalla, a prominent economist, yesterday asked the ...
Exports to be unaffected by debt crisis
As Cambodian exports continue to grow, commerce officials predict sovereign debt crises in the United States and Europe will not threaten the sector. Total exports surged by more than 46 per cent to US$2.677 billion in the first seven months of the year, compared to ...
Hands-on contest a hit in Cambodia
Long a popular fixture of US TV and radio competitions, “Hands on a Hardbody,” a marathon endurance contest where participants vie to hold their palms against a car the longest in order to win it, has expanded to Cambodia. More than 80 participants took part ...
Tourism numbers rise by 14 per cent
The number of foreign tourists visiting Cambodia through July climbed 14 per cent year-on-year, with the most arrivals coming from Vietnam, South Korea and China, according to the latest Ministry of Tourism figures. Improved transportation, greater promotion of the Kingdom to world markets and widely ...
Issues Remain as Union Law Enters Final Phase
As the creation of Cambodia’s first law on trade unions enters a final phase this week, labor activists and unions said the draft law as it stands is in urgent need of revision, as it would cripple unions and severely undermine collective bargaining rights. They ...
Donors Asked to Freeze Aid Over NGO Law
Ten international organizations including Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and Global Witness have urged dozens of foreign ministers to consider freezing aid to Cambodia if the government passes the current draft of its proposed NGO law. In a letter sent Wednesday to 36 foreign ministers ...