Rising Consumer Prices Draw Hunderds to Protest for Action

Some 200 factory workers and taxi drivers protested in Phnom Penh yesterday morning to demand that the government take action to curb the rising costs of food and fuel, and threatened larger demonstrations if it failed to act…According to figures released by the National Institute of Statistics last month, the year-on-year inflation rate for May rose to 65 percent, its highest level in 14 months. May also marked the largest month-to-month increase in nearly two years. The brief protest was organized by the Cambodian National Confederation for Laborers Protection. CNCLP President Sath Chheanghour said workers were suffering due to the rising prices and suggested the government bring prices down with a cut to the gasoline tax, for example…The World Bank International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank in March all warned that rising commodity prices and rising inflation in Asia risked spilling over into Cambodia and drawing more people into the ranks of the poor .