Economy and commerce

Cambodian exports to the United States, the world’s largest economy, rose sharply during the first three months of the year following a marked increase in the shipments of travel goods after the US renewed its Generalized System of Preferences in March. ...

Cambodia’s economic health remains strong at about 6 or 7 percent annual growth, but the country needs to harness its young population and invest in training and skills to ensure this trend continues, the World Bank said. ...

In order to bring more businesses into the regulatory fold, the government has promised attractive new incentives for companies that register before December, including a two-year break on tax revenue. ...

Representatives of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam gathered yesterday in Phnom Penh to discuss ways of improving trading procedures in Asean, particularly in agricultural goods, as part of a workshop organised by German development agency GIZ. ...

Kampong Speu Military Police, along with Wild-life Alliance experts, on Wednesday cracked down on a home in Chech village where they confiscated nearly 20 kilograms of live wild animals, officials said on Thursday. ...

Plans appear to be in the works to develop a central stretch of prime riverfront real estate currently owned by a state-run enterprise into a sprawling commercial development, according to sources involved with the landowner, though key government officials professed to be in the dark ...

Ratanakkiri’s first cassava-processing plant will operate at full capacity starting next month, producing 300 tonnes of cassava products per day. The factory is now on a test run and is only producing 10 tonnes of cassava products a day, said Soy Sona, director of Ratanakkiri’s ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen used a speech inaugurating a Chinese-funded university in Kratie on Wednesday to defend Chinese investment in Cambodia, which has come under fire in recent months both for its adverse economic side effects and its perceived potential for political influence. ...

Cambodia’s rice production and exports will likely continue to grow this year and next year despite low milling rates, buoyed by strong demand from China, according to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In the report released last week, the USDA ...

The economy will grow at a rate of 6.9 percent in 2018, according to the latest report from the World Bank. Other international financial institutions have issued similar forecasts this month, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) putting national ...

Cambodia’s economic outlook remains positive and the economy is forecast to grow at a robust 7 percent this year and next year, according to a report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday. Growth in exports, strong foreign direct investment, growing tourist arrivals ...

Japanese firm Sumitronics signed a lease to become the first tenant at the Poipet Special Economic Zone, which was established as a subsidiary of the publicly listed Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) in 2014. The electronics firm leased a 1-hectare plot of land in ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on Tuesday that a developing trade war between the US and China could affect Cambodia, and said the Kingdom must act to mitigate any potential fallout. In March, US President Donald Trump’s administration slapped tariffs on global imports of steel ...

The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has preliminarily issued final registration certificates for 35 projects with a combined investment capital of $444 million from January to the end of last month. Once operational, the projects are expected to provide more than 30,335 jobs. ...

The National Bank of Cambodia issued a letter on Wednesday clarifying that only seven microfinance institutions (MFIs) are licensed to accept deposits from the public. The notification came after the central bank noticed several “rural credit operators” – institutions smaller than a typical MFI that ...

The European Commission has found sufficient evidence to launch an investigation into whether Cambodian rice exported to the EU puts an unfair burden on European rice farmers, potentially imperiling the Kingdom’s tariff-free exports to the bloc. ...

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is forecasting that 44 percent of Cambodia’s total rice exports will be smuggled out of the country through informal channels this year, a persistent problem that weighs down profits and threatens to cripple the industry. ...

Cambodia should continue to see steady economic growth at about 7 percent this year despite potential investor caution that could arise ahead of July’s national election, officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) said on Wednesday. ...

Germany’s international development agency (GIZ) held a workshop on Tuesday that promoted Cambodian agricultural exports to China, focusing on the necessary export guidelines and the sanitation standards that are often lacking in the Kingdom’s agricultural value chains. ...

A series of quarterly reports from the National Bank of Cambodia raises questions about the government’s ban on timber exports, as they show that last year, more than $5 million in sawn timber was exported from the Kingdom. The latest report, released earlier this month ...

Commercial banks and microfinance institutions have acquired more than 209 billion riel in riel liquidity, worth $52.4 million, from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) since the central bank began its liquidity-providing collateralised operation (LPCO) in October 2016. ...

The Commerce Ministry officially launched a program yesterday giving the authority to issue certificate of origin licences to four provinces along the Thai border, potentially expediting the export process for agricultural businesses in the region. ...

A group representing some of the largest apparel brands in the US and Europe – including Gap, H&M and ASOS – expressed “growing concern” on Tuesday over several controversial labour laws and ongoing court cases against unionists described as restrictive and unjust. ...

According to the latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Cambodia economy will grow by 7 percent this year on the back of higher public spending and steady growth in construction and tourism. The IMF’s forecast is slightly higher than the figure released by the ...