The Phnom Penh Post
QR codes could prove to be a digital alternative to cash for Cambodia
Global payments giant Visa is the first international financial firm to announce the roll out of a payment solution in Cambodia for quick response codes, or QR codes, those pixelated black and white squares designed to be read by a smartphone camera that have begun ...
Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/qr-codes-could-prove-be-digital-alternative-cash-cambodia
Government eyeing low-cost housing
An estimated 7.9 million people in Cambodia will be living in urban areas by 2030, up from 4.5 million in 2014, with officials at a forum on national housing yesterday announcing ambitious plans to meet the demand for some 55,000 affordable new homes each year. ...
Touch Sokha and Yesenia Amaro
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-eyeing-low-cost-housing
Corrupt officials admit selling government land for profit
The head of the Preah Vihear Provincial Department of Mines and Energy admitted to illegally selling a plot of government land for $62,400 in profit at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, but called for a lighter sentence, claiming he used the money to help ...
Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/corrupt-officials-admit-selling-government-land-profit
Report warns on pier project
The Kampot Pier Project – a $10 million effort to attract tourists by building a passenger pier – could harm communities due to insufficient consultation, a new NGO report and community representatives claim. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Yon Sineat
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/report-warns-pier-project
Government OKs four firms for local mineral mining
The Ministry of Mines and Energy announced that it has granted licenses to four different mining companies to explore for potential mineral resources in Kratie, Kampong Thom, Mondulkiri and Kampot. ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/government-oks-four-firms-local-mineral-mining
Central shared switch due to launch in July
The central bank hopes to launch its central shared switch mechanism next month after a trial run that has already connected the account records of three of the Kingdom’s leading financial institutions, allowing them to operate ATM and point-of-sale (POS) terminals in tandem, according to ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/central-shared-switch-due-launch-july
Cassava prices hit a new low
Cassava prices in Cambodia experienced a sharp drop this month leading to heavy losses for smallholder farmers unable to quickly switch to more profitable crops and recoup their mounting losses, a provincial agriculture official said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cassava-prices-hit-new-low
Flexibility measures weighed for CSX
Cambodia’s capital market regulator will meet soon to discuss a proposal to permit market orders for trading stocks on the Kingdom’s bourse, a move that would give investors more flexibility when buying or selling shares, officials have said. ...
Brian Ng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/flexibility-measures-weighed-csx
Government hopes to extend controversial drug war
National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD) President Ke Kim Yan announced his intention to extend Cambodia’s anti-drug campaign yesterday, nearly six months and more than 8,000 arrests since the controversial crackdown began. ...
Kong Meta and Martin de Bourmont
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-hopes-extend-controversial-drug-war
Pros and cons of China’s Belt and Road plan
Cambodia has been a vocal supporter of the BRI since the initiative’s conception in 2013. The BRI will offer a new framework of cooperation between Cambodia and her neighbours, through the increased connectivity that will arise in the region once the work on the improved ...
Samithi Sok
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/39680/pros-and-cons-of-china---s-belt-and-road-plan/
Smooth sailing for port’s IPO
Earlier this month Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS) became the fifth listed firm on the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) following an initial public offering that raised $27 million. The Post’s Brian Ng sat down with Shuzo Shikata, CEO of SBI Royal Securities (SBIR), the sole underwriter ...
Brian Ng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/smooth-sailing-ports-ipo
Phnom Penh acquires two new deputy governors
The government has tapped two officials to become new deputy governors in Phnom Penh, including former Pursat Provincial Deputy Governor Keut Che, and Nuon Pharath, a staffer at the Council of Ministers with close ties to the youth organisation led by the premier’s youngest son. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/phnom-penh-acquires-two-new-deputy-governors
Big wildlife bust yields 300 kilos in Kampong Chhnang
Kampong Chhnang provincial authorities on Saturday intercepted and seized a truck loaded with 300 kilograms of live snakes and tortoises, though the wildlife traders managed to escape, a provincial Forestry Administration official said yesterday. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-wildlife-bust-yields-300-kilos-kampong-chhnang
NBC, South Korea team up for research
The central banks of Cambodia and South Korea signed an agreement on Friday to jointly conduct research and analyse the relationship between exchange rates and inflation in the Cambodian economy, according to bank officials. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/nbc-south-korea-team-research
Sar Kheng says official held in Thailand avoided checkpoint, vows arms probe
Interior Minister Sar Kheng has vowed an investigation into an alleged arms trafficking operation linked to a Cambodian official, saying information from suspects indicated the guns were smuggled via a “corridor” in Cambodia’s Koh Kong province into Thailand and did not pass through the international ...
Mech Dara and Shaun Turton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sar-kheng-says-official-held-thailand-avoided-checkpoint-vows-arms-probe
New rules for digital payments
The central bank has issued new regulations governing the licensing of payment services providers (PSPs), requiring that all firms providing online services to accept electronic payments have at least $2 million in registered capital, a move expected to increase the stability of the sector and ...
Hor Kimsay and Matthieu de Gaudemar
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/new-rules-digital-payments
Ministry to examine passport fees for Malaysia migrants
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will investigate exorbitant passport fees for migrant workers in Malaysia, the ministry’s spokesman said late last week, following an investigation by The Post that found Cambodians in the country were forced to pay up to $800 for renewals. ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-examine-passport-fees-malaysia-migrants
Fresh Mart to become retail fresh food hub
Cambodia-based integrated food-distribution company Hun Ty plans to open its own retail fresh-food market next month and will increase its cold storage and food-distribution business by opening two additional locations in the Kingdom, a company executive said yesterday. ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/fresh-mart-become-retail-fresh-food-hub
1,000 Phnom Kulen families to be relocated
A group of about 1,000 families living in Siem Reap province’s Phnom Kulen National Park will be relocated to prevent them from continuing an environmentally detrimental trend of clearing land, building homes, selling and repeating, the environment minister said on Thursday. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/1000-phnom-kulen-families-to-be-relocated-131679/
Suspected US aircraft bomb found in Takeo
A 350-kg M117 aircraft bomb believed to have been dropped during the US’s carpet bombing of Cambodia was uncovered in Takeo province’s Tram Kak district yesterday by local residents, an official said. ...
Jovina Chua
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/suspected-us-aircraft-bomb-found-takeo
Risk puts brakes on movable assets
Access to credit would increase dramatically if Cambodian borrowers could put up movable assets as collateral, but lenders say much more needs to be done to remove the risks associated with these assets, including the establishment of a legal framework that would restrict changes in ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/risk-puts-brakes-movable-assets
Vietnamese data show timber exports are continuing
According to the figures, Vietnam imported 21,670 cubic metres of sawn wood valued at $13.7 million in April, a 27 percent drop compared to February and an almost 50 percent decrease compared to March. ...
Shaun Turton and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/vietnamese-data-show-timber-exports-are-continuing
Outbreak hits 24 at Kampong Speu prison
Twenty-four inmates in Kampong Speu’s provincial prison – where five prisoners escaped earlier this week – are reportedly experiencing a combination of respiratory difficulties, coughing, skin rashes and swollen legs. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Martin de Bourmont
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/outbreak-hits-24-kampong-speu-prison
Kandal families allege official intimidation
Sixteen families in Kandal have accused a purported Interior Ministry official of sending soldiers to intimidate them to take their land, though the official denied the claims and said no such dispute existed at all. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kandal-families-allege-official-intimidation