News
Bank trims rate to coax millers

The state-owned bank entrusted with extending $27 million in emergency loans to millers to purchase rice paddy has marginally lowered the interest rate on these conditional loans in an effort to shorten some of the strings attached. The Rural Development Bank announced late on September 25 that ...
Dredging figures do not add up

Transparency and environmental groups are calling on the Anti-Corruption Unit to investigate potential smuggling in the sand-dredging industry after a gaping $750 million discrepancy was discovered between Cambodia’s documented sand exports and Singapore’s imports. On the UN Commodity Trade Statistics Database, Cambodia reported exporting $5.5 million ...
New mining licences issued, others revoked
Over 40 new mining licences were issued during the first half of the year to satisfy the high demand for construction materials by Cambodian infrastructure and real estate projects, while more than 100 licences were revoked due to environmental concerns or inactivity, a government official ...
Air link could give Indonesian trade more lift

A three-day trade and tourism conference aimed at promoting Indonesian-made products in Phnom Penh ended on September 25 and although the conference is hoped to boost bilateral trade, an Indonesian diplomat said direct flights would be needed to facilitate the flow of business between the two ...
Top H&M suppliers called out over alleged labour rights violations

Four premium suppliers for Swedish clothing giant H&M have been called out by a local labour rights group for their continued use of short-term contracts, hampering employees’ ability to unionise and, in one case, allegedly paying workers less than the $140 monthly minimum wage. In a ...
Coastal airport project gets nod

The Chinese developer behind a massive $3.8 billion tourism project being built in Koh Kong province has confirmed that it is ready to begin construction on a new international airport to serve the coastal resort and company’s related developments, though declined to reveal the investment ...
Investment from Vietnam hits a dry patch: CDC

Vietnamese investors shied away from the Cambodian market during the first half of the year as the Council for the Development of Cambodia failed to register a single qualified investment project from Vietnam during that period for the first time in its 22-year history, a ...
Cash influx a band-aid for failing rice sector

As the government scrambles to buoy a rice sector suffering from crashing paddy prices and fierce international competition, Prime Minister Hun Sen on September 22 lauded the government officials and “generous businesspeople” who heeded calls for emergency funds. Falling from about $250 per ton in mid-August to ...
Abuses prevalent for Cambodia's transgender women: study

An overwhelming majority of transgender women on Cambodia’s city streets are subject to “shocking” harassment and abuse, according to a new report from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. The report, released on September 21, also shines a light on a disturbing new practice that has allegedly ...
Japan building Mekong supply chain

Greater connectivity between Japan and Cambodia is tightening economic links between the two countries while catalysing Japan’s ambitions to develop a chain of industrial complexes that cut a tract through the Lower Mekong region. Officials at Japan External Trade Organisation, Japan’s development agency, say Cambodia’s economic ...