The Covid-19 crisis – which started to wreak havoc globally in late 2019 – coupled with heightened geopolitical risks and the Ukraine conflict, continues to place considerable strain on economic stability across the world. Nowadays, real estate is widely seen as one of the most stagnant economic sectors, with subdued property transaction levels and elevated numbers of stalled and “ghost” projects. And Cambodia is no exception, besieged by sharp Covid-driven declines in investment inflows. Given its historically heavy reliance on foreign investment, the local real estate and construction sector is currently in a low-sentiment phase marked by a significant downturn…
Author: Hin Pisei
The bilateral merchandise trade volume between Cambodia and Japan totalled $1.789 billion in the first 11 months of 2022, rising by 13.11 per cent on-year, with Cambodian exports accounting for a 59.76 per cent share, down by 1.74 percentage points on a yearly basis, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE). In the January-November period, Cambodian goods exports to and imports from Japan amounted to $1.069 billion and $720.075 million, respectively, up 6.81 per cent and 23.95 per cent year-on-year, narrowing the Kingdom’s trade surplus with the archipelago nation by 16.88 per cent versus the year-ago period.…
The construction ministry greenlit 3,407 construction projects in January-October 2022 with total registered capital of $2.190 billion – down by 191 developments and 57.2 per cent in terms of value over the same time last year, according to the finance ministry. Of these, 3,018 or 88.58 per cent were residential projects, down from 3,109 in the same 10-month period last year, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in its October 2022 Socio-Economic Trends report, which categorised the projects as: residential, commercial, industrial, tourism, public, and other investment. Using previous data from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and…
The Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) has announced that it approved four additional proposals for textile-related factories, with total registered capital of around $22 million that are expected to create 63,380 new jobs. This was revealed in a notice issued on December 19 by the CDC, the government’s highest decision-making body for large-scale investments. Two will be located in Bati district of Takeo province’s north: Phoenix Fashion (Cambodia) Garment Co Ltd’s $6.3 million garment factory in Sophy commune; and Aw Cashmere (Cambodia) Co Ltd’s $5.3 million knitted and non-knitted apparel factory in Kandoeng commune, respectively planned to generate…
Preparations are well underway for New Year’s events across several provinces, for local and foreign tourists to visit for a big celebratory send-off for 2022 and welcome to 2023. Kampot provincial Department of Tourism director Soy Sinol told The Post on December 18 that provincial authorities will organise concerts at three major destinations on December 31. On the occasion, there will also be decorative street lighting, boat races, drone-riding showcases, fireworks and flying lanterns along Kampot River, he said, predicting that there would be more visitors to the province, including its tourist attractions, compared to the same period a year…
Cambodian merchandise exports to South Korea rose by 20.3 per cent on a yearly basis in the January-November period to $207.117 million, Customs reported, as analysts foresee a significant pick-up driven by a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that took effect on December 1. In the first 11 months of the year, the Cambodian-South Korean merchandise trade totalled $711.042 million, up 1.01 per cent year-on-year, of which imports into the Kingdom accounted for 70.87 per cent at $503.925 million, down 5.23 per cent from the year-ago period, according to the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE). The Kingdom’s trade…
The second phase of a feasibility study on a proposed waterway link from the Bassac River to the sea in Kep province is scheduled to be completed by end-January, reported the public works ministry. The project is seen as a massive support for the transportation market and the export business. The accompanying Bassac River Navigation and Logistics System (“BRNLS”) project aims to provide a viable and efficient alternative for waterway passenger and freight traffic to enter and exit the Kingdom – without passing through Vietnam – that also reduces transportation and logistics costs. The Bassac River is a distributary of…
Kampong Speu province’s “first” paper mill, with registered investment capital of about $30 million, is scheduled to go online in the “next four or five months”, and generate some 2,000 jobs, according to provincial governor Vei Samnang on December 14. Samnang affirmed to The Post that the mill would be able to produce retail-ready paper, as opposed to just paper pulp, adding that its facilities would be equipped with state-of-the-art German machinery and that its production raw materials would be sourced from the US and Thailand – and domestically to a lesser extent. However, the governor did not mention whether…
Pepper industry insiders are eager for general improvements in the quality and quantity of locally-grown peppercorn sold to overseas markets, following a call from agricultural authorities to owners of plantations as well as processing and packaging plants, along with cooperatives, to apply for approval to export the commodity to mainland China. The “Protocol of Phytosanitary Requirements for Export of Peppercorns from Cambodia to China” was signed on November 9 between Chinese Customs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, marking a major step towards the official export of domestically-produced peppercorn to the Chinese market. The ministry’s General Directorate of…
Prime Minister Hun Sen on December 12 signalled that a freeze on electricity rates may be extended, amid elevated global fuel and coal prices, to keep costs down for businesses and ordinary Cambodians. The premier was speaking at a meeting with overseas Cambodians in the Belgian capital of Brussels on the sidelines of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit, which he would co-chair two days later along with European Council President Charles Michel. Despite Cambodia’s free-market focus, the government “actively” examines alternatives to raising electricity prices and thereby putting the burden on consumers, Hun Sen said. Even though the bloated international fuel…