News
As Foreign Aid Increases, Questions About Conditions
Cambodia has seen huge growth of foreign aid and loans over the past two decades, but experts are beginning to question its worth—and what conditions might be attached. Total aid from 1993 to 2012 amounts to around $10 billion, with the percentage of aid coming as ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/as-foreign-aid-increases-questions-about-conditions/1664821.html
Australia Ups Aid Funding
Australia announced yesterday that it will increase the amount of aid it provides Cambodia by about US$13 million (A$13.2 million) in the coming year, putting the country’s official development assistance at $96.1 million. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051765681/National/australia-ups-aid-funding.html
China pledges $548 million in aid to ally Cambodia
China has pledged another $548 million in aid to Cambodia for infrastructure and irrigation systems, extending assistance that some critics say has bought it Cambodia’s diplomatic support. Agreements covering $500 million in soft loans and $48 million in grants were signed when Prime Minister Hun ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/10/us-cambodia-china-idUSBRE93909D20130410
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html
Cambodian Scholar Suggests Pernicious Effects of Aid Dependence
For political economist Sophal Ear, this view is more nuanced. In his book ‘Aid Dependence in Cambodia: How Foreign Assistance Undermined Democracy‘, published by the Columbia University Press (2012), years of dependency are not showing positive results in the rehabilitation of Cambodia, its democracy and war ...
http://asiancorrespondent.com/90669/cambodian-scholar-suggests-pernicious-effects-of-aid-dependence/
Cambodia Says No Strings Attached in Recent Chinese Aid
China has done a lot to support Cambodia over the years with millions of dollars in aid, loans and investment. But after reports this week that China has pledged another $500 million in soft loans and grants—and publicly thanked Cambodia for its support in Southeast ...
http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/09/06/cambodia-says-no-strings-attached-in-recent-chinese-aid/
Ahead of Titling, Hun Sen Urges Swift Resolution to Land Disputes
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged people to resolve their own land disputes to aid the progress of an ambitious land-titling project announced earlier this month. Speaking at an event in Kompong Cham province’s Kroch Chhmar district to mark National Fish Day, Mr. Hun Sen thanked ...
Boeung Kak women jailed after three-hour trial
Thirteen women protesters from Boeung Kak lake were yesterday sentenced to two and a half years in prison after a three-hour trial that was widely condemned as illegal – and which prompted SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua to urge the international community to suspend aid to ...
Hu wants Cambodia help on China Sea dispute, pledges aid
Chinese President Hu Jintao asked close economically Cambodia on Saturday not to push talks on the vexed issue of the South China Sea “too fast” as he pledged to double bilateral trade to $5 billion and announced fresh aid to the impoverished country. Cambodia holds the ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/31/us-cambodia-china-idUSBRE82U04Y20120331
Kingdom sees boost in foreign reserves
Cambodia’s total foreign reserves jumped to US$3 billion in the first half of 2011, up from $2.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the National Bank of Cambodia. The reserves help to bolster the Kingdom’s financial standing, which in turn draws investor interest ...
Welfare plan full of goals, short on details
Cash transfers to the poor and public works programs for the unemployed are spelled out in a new five-year plan the government launched yesterday in a bid to expand the country’s threadbare social welfare programs. Though full of ambitious targets and budgets, the ‘National Social Protection ...
Floods abate, but villagers still isolated
Although floodwaters are receding, an unknown number of villages in several provinces remain accessible only by boat, and the extent of the damage has yet to be fully assessed, according to aid workers and the latest “situation update” from the United Nations Disaster Management Team. “In ...
Cambodia needs about US$ 200 million annually for climate change adaptations
According to the Copenhagen Accord hosted in Denmark, developed countries had to provide US$ 30 billion for 2009-2012 to kick start emissions reduction measures for the less-developed countries and promised to offer US$ 100 billion for long term finance a year by 2020. “Cambodia needs approximately ...
Japan Helps Cambodia Despite Difficulties
Japan on August 15th loaned Cambodia a package of US$ 53.3 million for the West Tonle Sap Irrigation and Drainage Improvement and a grant aid of US$ 0.7 million to improve education equipment of the Department of Geo-Resources and Geotechnical Engineering of the Institute of ...
China’s ‘No Strings’ Aid Increasingly Attractive
The timing couldn’t have been better. After a week in which one NGO was suspended and others warned to “readjust their work,” and the World Bank was finally forced to reveal that it had stopped loaning to Cambodia, the government announced over the weekend that ...
Deals With China Inked
Cambodia agreed to acquire Chinese-made Z-9 helicopters for US$195 million in one of 26 memorandums of understanding agreed by the two countries on Saturday. Cooperation was pledged in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture and road construction, as well as defense spending and aid. The ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011082251177/Business/deals-with-china-inked.html
South Korea Will Help Restore Ancient Khmer Temple
South Korea plans to restore the ancient Khmer temple, Preah Pitou at western Baray and other temples in Siem Reap, home of a world-class tourism destination. The restoration project was announced after the meeting between Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Sok An, Minister in charge of ...
Japan Loans over $53 Million to Improve Agriculture and Education
Cambodia will receive a concessional loan package of $53.3 million US dollars from Japan to restore the irrigation canal system and another $700,000 dollars grant aid to enhance education materials for minerals resources and topology department of the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), the ...
World Bank fund halt irks officials
THE government expressed disappointment yesterday with the World Bank’s announcement that it had halted new country loans due to the ongoing land dispute at Boeung Kak lake in Phnom Penh and vowed to raise the issue with the bank’s executive board. “We are very dissatisfied ...
World Bank Halts Funds Over Evictions
The World Bank has frozen funding to Cambodia, making good on its threat in March to reconsider aid levels to Cambodia in response to the ongoing eviction of thousands of Phnom Penh families from Boeng Kak lake, a Bank official confirmed yesterdaySome 3,000 families have ...