Economy and commerce
Investment
Vietnam: $705.8m outbound investment; funding opportunity from France
Foreign direct investment into Vietnam reached $14.3 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, Vietnamese startups are attracting investment and partnership from French investors. Vietnam’s outbound investments hit $705.8m Vietnamese companies pumped $705.8 million in 106 projects in foreign markets during the first eight months of this year, according ...
Cabinet approves Gold Line monorail
THE Bt3.8-billion Gold Line monorail project for western Bangkok along the Chao Phraya River was given the green light by the Cabinet on September 6, with the line expected to be in service in 2018. The elevated monorail line is 2.7 kilometres long, stretching from ...
Cambodian traders test derivatives market
Sitting in a cafe on Phnom Penh’s Sothearos Boulevard in August, a group of young Cambodians gazed at their computer screens, watching the movement of currency around the globe. During their regular weekday trading session in the foreign exchange market, dubbed forex or FX, they anticipate ...
Credit growth starts to cool off
New data released by Cambodia’s independent credit reporting agency indicate a significant slowdown in the rate of lending during the second quarter of the year, a sign that banking industry experts claim is due to a tightening of lending criteria and less seasonal demand from ...
So long to the Asian sweatshop
For 30 years, the word “sweatshop” has conjured up a very specific image: low-wage Asian workers making branded clothes in crowded, unsafe factories for consumers overseas. The power of that image has launched human rights campaigns, altered how major companies source their products and informed ...
ASEAN to become world's No. 4 economy by 2030: Laos PM
A new economic order will emerge by 2030, with Southeast Asia taking on a central role, Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith told business leaders in his nation’s capital on September 5. “Studies have shown that the ASEAN economy is expected to grow at 7% per annum, ...
Protest threat if dam plan goes to cabinet
A leader of the Seub Nakhasathien Foundation conservation group has vowed to launch a protest if a proposal to approve the Mae Wong dam in Nakhon Sawan goes before cabinet. Sasin Chalermlarp’s comment came as Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Chatchai Sarikulya is reportedly seeking to use ...
Thailand 'ready to bridge' G20 and G77
Thailand is ready to serve as a bridge linking the Group of 20’s major industrialised economies and the developing economies in the Group of 77, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says. Gen Prayut was speaking on September 4 as he attended the two-day G20 summit in Hangzhou, China ...
ASEAN and China to focus on RCEP
ASEAN and China intend to cooperate in production capacity as well support the finalisation this year of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said last week that a statement on the cooperation will be issued at the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, which takes place ...
Hydropower commission probes Myitsone contract
The commission to scrutinise hydropower projects along the Ayeyarwady River has met with the Ministry of Electric Power and Energy to learn more about the contractual agreement with a Chinese state-owned firm underpinning the suspended Myitsone hydropower project in Kachin State. The commission held its second ...