News
More Cambodians struggling to repay MFI loans
Banking industry insiders expressed concern on 11 July over a spike in the amount of delinquent debts reported by microfinance institutions across the Kingdom, which they attributed to farmers struggling to repay their loans after adverse weather conditions affected their crops. “Loans in the agricultural sector account ...
Nearly 90% of garment factory jobs at risk of automation: ILO
Local industry experts responded on 10 July to a new report that warns the majority of Cambodia’s garment sector workers could lose their jobs in the coming two decades as automation and innovative technologies replace low-skilled labour and allow multinational producers to move their operations closer ...
Rice sector continues its struggle in first half
Cambodian rice exports decreased nearly 6 per cent year-on-year during the first semester, reinforcing concerns about the future of the rice industry, the Kingdom’s most important agricultural sector. A report released on 7 July by the Secretariat of One Window Service for Rice Export showed Cambodia exported ...
Palm oil yields up as crop matures
Mong Reththa, vice chairman of the board of directors at Mong Reththy Investment Cambodia Palm Oil, said the group subsidiary exported 13,000 tonnes of crude palm oil during the first six months of 2016, a 116 per cent increase compared to the same period one ...
UNESCO push will clear villagers off of Kulen Mountain
Hundreds of villagers living on Siem Reap’s historic Phnom Kulen are reeling after the government announced they would be relocated as part of a scheme to secure a UNESCO World Heritage Listing for the site. But one resident, 53-year-old Khev Kheng, who has lived there for ...
Ongoing challenges in Kingdom's efforts to end domestic violence
Slow action from courts and police, a dire lack of mental health counselling and sparse government funding were named as ongoing challenges in Cambodia’s quest to eliminate violence against women at a conference on 4 July. Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi said that while ...
Mass cattle deaths scar country’s northeast
There was little rain to settle the red dust in Krolah. The wells dried up. The cattle died. The people fell sick. The village, 30 km over steep hills from the provincial capital of Banlung—already hit by rampant deforestation—bore the brunt of the harshest drought in ...
Rice industry body president gets wary vote of confidence
Cambodia’s apex rice industry body held its annual general meeting on 2 July, with its members unanimously re-electing its well-connected incumbent president, Sok Puthyvuth, for a second term in what some are calling a dress rehearsal for his political ascendancy. Puthyvuth, the son of Deputy Prime Minister ...
US spending bill ties aid to end of government ‘violence’
According to a Senate report accompanying the bill, the vast majority of the recommended budget for Cambodia, $69.9 million of it, would go toward health programs and development assistance. Most of the rest would go to military education and training, demining, anti-terrorism and related programs. ...
Mother nature activists released
The Koh Kong Provincial Court in Cambodia decided to suspend a year and a half sentence handed down to three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature who have been in prison since last August – longer than the legal limit for pre-trial detention. The three ...
