News

Maruhan Japan Bank yesterday became the first commercial bank in Cambodia to make a direct equity investment into a microfinance institution by becoming Sathapana’s majority shareholder, with a 95.1 per cent stake. Financial details were not disclosed. The shareholders who sold out to Maruhan were FMO, ...

Government spending next year will total more than $3 billion, a 16.2 percent increase from the $2.6 billion set aside for 2012, according to a draft of the national budget obtained Friday. The budget states that the government will allocate some $400 million, or 13.32 ...

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on Friday reaffirmed Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating of “B” due to the country’s positive growth outlook, but again warned of risks related to the country’s narrow economic base. “Economic output growth is vulnerable due to the still large ...

Sar Botra has always liked gardening. The front yard of his house, an explosion of flowers and plants, makes it clear that he’s got a very green thumb. He used to spend a lot of time with his plants after work or on the weekends, ...

Authorities in Daun Penh district have rounded up more than 120 so-called homeless people, drug users and sex workers ahead of next week’s high-level meetings for Asean and international delegates in Phnom Penh, a district official said yesterday. Phnom Penh City Hall has also focused ...

Activist groups are planning to hold two separate forums this week in Phnom Penh to call attention to human rights issues and other problems in Asean countries as a meeting of regional and world leaders begin in the city. The assembly will meet ahead of ...

CPP Senator and business tycoon Ly Yong Phat last week continued to offer families in Koh Kong province cash compensation to get them to drop out of a lawsuit against two sugar cane plantations he once owned, according to villagers. But villager Phann Khly yesterday ...

On his first foreign trip since Tuesday’s election, US President Barack Obama is planning a historic visit to encourage reforms in Myanmar – seen as a key success during his first term – and he’ll also go to Thailand and Cambodia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ...

Approximately 150 parliamentarians, government officials, recruitment agency representatives, trade unions leaders, and development partners gathered here on Monday to discuss ways and measures to promote and protect the rights of Cambodian migrant workers. Speaking at the opening of the parliamentary forum on the promotion and protection ...

Multinational consulting and engineering firm Pöyry has signed a contract with the Lao government to supervise construction of the divisive Xayaburi hydropower dam in the country’s north, it announced Friday. This work, carried out by its Energy Business Group, will include reviewing the design and ...

Construction investment rises sharply Investment in construction in the Kingdom during the first nine months of this year rose 83.6 per cent, according to data from Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction last week. The data showed that during the first nine months of ...

An NGO has plans to supply clean water to 60 rural provinces between 2013 and 2016 in an effort to increase access to water and meet the demand of their citizens. Chai Lo, the founder and country director of 1001 Fontaines, said at the opening of ...

Philip Hampden-Smith, general manager of Southeast Asia operations at Manulife, talks about the company’s entry into the Cambodian market and what the new few years might bring. Cambodia’s nascent life insurance industry may be just only a year old but the nation of nearly 15 million ...

If Cambodia’s oil and gas sector is well managed, and transparent, it could provide the country a golden opportunity for investment, development and poverty reduction, said independent economist Chan Sophal, who spoke at a recent gathering looking at the economies of oil-producing countries. Chan Sophal said ...

Cambodia’s Statistics and Tourist Information Department, Ministry of Tourism, reported arrivals increased 15.7% in September, the lowest growth rate so far for this year based on 242,747 visits during the month. The percentage increase for the nine-month period was pulled down from 24.5% at ...

Viet Nam has urged Laos to continue its research on the environmental impacts of the planned Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River. Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Luong Thanh Nghi made the statement at a regular press briefing in Ha Noi yesterday when answering a question ...

What does Friday’s affirmation of Cambodia’s ‘B’ long and short-term sovereign credit ratings actually mean? In short, it signals that the Kingdom of Cambodia — unlike Greece, for example — “currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments,” according to definitions used by Standard and ...

Delegates attending a forum on investment and cooperation for the Mekong sub region, held in the central highland province of Dak Lak on November 9, all agreed that Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia need to work on common preferential policies to attract lucrative investments for the ...

Thailand and Cambodia are ready to implement a single visa agreement, which would enable tourists to use only one visa for both countries from Nov 21, an immigration bureau chief says. The project comes under the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (Acmecs). Acmecs, which was initiated by ...

The scarcity of sand in the city has forced construction companies to import sand mined from the Mekong River in Cambodia. A consignment of sand from Cambodia has already reached the city. More consignments are likely. The importers are likely to use the sand for ...

Cambodia’s garment exports rose 9.9% to $3.44bn in the first nine months of this year, up from $ 3.13bn a year ago, according to the latest figures from the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. ...

Global food prices fell 1 per cent or two points in the October 2012 Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Food Price Index released on October 7, 2012. The index averaged 213 points, compared to September’s revised level of 215 points. According to the FAO, the decrease ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen will hold bilateral talks with U.S. President Barack Obama when the newly re-elected American leader visits Phnom Penh during this month’s East Asia and Asean Summits. Mr. Hun Sen announced the bilateral meeting in a letter to Mr. Obama on Wednesday congratulating ...

Phnom Penh municipal officials Nov. 8, 2012 dismissed the complaints of more than 60 families about a Russei Keo district ice factory’s levels of noise and bad fumes. Following their inspection of the Om Rith factory, a manufacturer of Super Ice, officials from Phnom Penh’s Department ...