Economy and commerce

The Finance Ministry is optimistic the private sector will step up its investment to the tune of 400 billion baht next year, a crucial driving force for economic growth. The amount of private investment will be nearly half of the 900 billion baht the state ...

Sharply decreasing Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) output and increasing prices of new gas resources are forcing Việt Nam to look to increase LNG imports. The country is expected to import five million tonnes of LNG by 2025. The figure is expected to increase to 11 ...

Preliminary counts have been completed in the provinces through which the Laos-China railway will pass, to pave the way for compensation to be paid to the affected villagers and residents who will be relocated. However affected residents in the provinces through which the railway will ...

Phase II of the Laos-Thailand railway, which will see the line extended from the suburbs to central Vientiane, is set to resume after the project was suspended in 2011. The line will be built over a distance of 7.5km to link the track from the ...

The government sought to set the record straight on December 22 after local media outlets erroneously reported that the Kingdom’s public debt had reached $10 billion at the end of 2015. Without naming which media outlets had published the skewed figure, which was shared widely on ...

Alex Corporation, the firm behind a proposal for an ambitious Mondulkiri mining project, appears to be ultimately owned by ruling party Senator Lao Meng Khin and his wife, Choeung Sopheap, the Post has discovered, a scenario rights groups say should give cause for concern. The ...

A mysterious cluster of crude oil storage tanks recently constructed on the coast near Kampot are linked to a $400 million project by timber baron Try Pheap to build an industrial park and oil refinery, government officials confirmed on December 21. The five 2-million-litre tanks ...

The minister in charge of mining in Myanmar’s conflict-ridden state of Kachin says it was a mistake for the United States to lift sanctions on the country’s notorious jade industry. Kachin lies at the heart of the “jade tract”, a small area that has deposits ...

Rubber exports are expected to reach 1.2-1.25 million tonnes of this year, a year-on-year increase of 5.5-10 per cent, according to the Việt Nam Rubber Association. Speaking at a press conference to introduce the fifth International Exhibition on Rubber Industry and Tyre Manufacturing in HCM ...

A private university in Thailand has begun accepting rice in payment for tuition fees as the nation struggles under a grain glut that’s hurting farm incomes. Students enrolled at Rangsit University in Bangkok’s northern suburbs can pay all or part of next semester’s costs with ...