Economy and commerce
Affordable housing projects affected as funds dry up
In a serious blow to thousands of would-be home-owners, the construction of affordable homes in Yangon’s Ayeyarwon and Yadanar housing projects has been suspended because the money has run out, government officials say. Urban and Housing Development department director general U Min Htein told The Myanmar ...
Chinese firm mulls energy sector prospects
A leading Chinese manufacturer of power transmission and distribution equipment recently visited Cambodia to explore opportunities in the Kingdom’s rapidly growing energy sector, including a proposal for a factory to produce equipment for the electricity sector. The Ministry of Mines and Energy met representatives of ...
Customs impounds 100 NGV buses amid duty doubts
The Customs Department has impounded 100 natural gas vehicle air-conditioned buses which were supposed to hit Bangkok streets late this month amid doubts over whether the import order is legitimate or was falsely declared to avoid more than 100 million baht in tax. The first ...
Vietnam’s cocoa receives “fine flavour” designation from Int’l Cocoa organisation
Viet Nam has become the second Asian country to achieve a fine flavour cocoa designation from the International Cocoa Organisation. Forty per cent of the country’s cocoa exports have received this designation. Indonesia was the first Asian country to receive the recognition in 2011, but it ...
Will coal shares bounce back?
The strong increase in coal prices has rekindled hopes for Vietnam’s miners and securities investors after a period of disappointment. After eight years of decline, the coal price began recovering in early 2016. Analysts commented that the coal price has been witnessing the strongest recovery compared ...
CPF acquires China's Cofco Meat Suqian
In its latest big buy, Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc, the SET-listed flagship of agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Group, has acquired Cofco Meat Suqian for 976 million baht. Through Chia Tai China Investment Co, an indirect subsidiary of CPF in China, CPF will also take over ...
Central bank orders lenders to step up lending in riel
Cambodian microfinance institutions have said they would comply with a new regulation issued by the central bank that requires them to hold at least 10 percent of their loan portfolio in the Kingdom’s national currency. A prakas published by the National Bank of Cambodia on ...
Industrial rail project gathers steam with government push
Transport Minister Sun Chanthol has vowed to reinvigorate a long-dormant project to connect the Kingdom’s sole operating railway line to the capital’s biggest industrial park – a move that would boost rail traffic ahead of the completion of a rail link to northwestern Cambodia and ...
What does the possible end of the TPP mean for the Mekong Delta projects?
China and Japan remain committed to the region; matter of time before private investment picks up. The future of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement looks increasingly unlikely to progress in the wake Donald Trump’s U.S. election victory. And Vietnam, once touted as one of the ...
Government to air concerns on Lao VAT
The government is set to raise the issue of Laos’s value-added tax in a joint discussion with Lao counterparts, fearing the new tax measure may cripple growing border trade. Adul Chotinisakorn, deputy director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said that while the issue is an ...
