The construction ministry has reported that it approved 1,175 projects in the third quarter of 2022, up 14.30 per cent year-on-year from 1,028, most of which were residential developments. This increase was mainly buoyed by villas and other residential developments, industrial facilities and privately-financed public works, while projects related to the commercial and tourism sectors lagged behind, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction said. The ministry forecast that the Cambodian construction sector would grow three per cent this year, “supported by credit growth”. Housing Development Association of Cambodia (HDAC) secretary-general Huy Vanna told The Post on December…
Author: Hin Pisei
A total of 684 companies were successfully registered on the Online Business Registration Platform – also known as the “Single Portal” – between 5pm November 2 and 2pm on the 28th, bringing the cumulative figure to 19,756, according to the Online Business Registration Service (“OBRS”), the competent government unit. Additionally, since the platform’s inception as of November 28 at 2pm, 12,583 companies have made reservations to complete the registration process at a later date, 271 of which went through since 5pm November 2. Although no registration applications had been rejected as of November 28, two reservation requests have been declined.…
Siem Reap province is expected to have welcomed more than 2.27 million travellers by end-2022, up 326 per cent year-on-year, with international visitors topping 0.23 million, according to Minister of Tourism Thong Khon on December 1. The minister suggested that the full-year figure would be underpinned by travel to the culturally-rich province in the November-December period, reporting that the total reached nearly 1.793 million as of October 31, of which international arrivals accounted for 169,349 or 9.45 per cent. He ascribed the continuing uptrend in travellers to Siem Reap to effective Covid-19 management and relatively early concrete moves towards the…
Cambodia welcomed nearly 1.576 million international visitors in the first 10 months of this year – up 991.13 per cent year-on-year but still down 70.24 per cent compared to the same period in the record-breaking year of 2019 – of which 62.97 per cent were from Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, the three bordering countries, according to the Ministry of Tourism. With all the uncertainty in the world stemming from geopolitical conflicts, fragile economic growth, and ongoing Covid-19-induced challenges, the tourism sector does not expect all that many travellers from distant destinations such as the EU and US, says Pacific Asia…
A marked uptick in Indica rice exports to European markets is expected after Cambodia won a challenge against the European Commission’s (EC) 2019 decision to remove tariff preferences on imports of the rice from the Kingdom for three years, on grounds that the shipments were causing perceived economic damage to EU producers. The safeguard measures, imposed in January 2019 on milled and semi-milled Indica rice, required Cambodian exporters to pay an import duty of €175 ($183) per tonne in the first year, €150 per tonne in 2020, and €125 per tonne in 2021. The EC – the EU’s executive arm…
The government’s highest decision-making body for large-scale investments approved 52 projects in the third quarter (Q3) ended September 30, across a diverse spectrum of sectors, with total registered capital of $460.8 million, according to the latest economic and financial statistics bulletin. Released by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the bulletin indicates that the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) greenlit five more projects than in the same three-month period last year, with total registered capital rising by 18.4 per cent from $389 million. The ministry ascribed the increases to mounting investment in solar panel manufacturing, hospitals, vehicle assembly,…
At least four private companies are looking into a possible high-speed controlled-access highway linking the capital to the cultural and historical hub of Siem Reap province, following the official launch of the first-of-its-kind Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway in November, according to Minister of Public Works and Transport Sun Chanthol. Chanthol was speaking at a November 29 ceremony marking the inauguration of a solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging station with multiple kiosks at his ministry, and handover of a batch of electric motorcycles, cars and pick-up trucks, in all provided by the UN Development Program (UNDP), Shenzhen-listed BYD and another company identified…
The government is set to take more than 120 international delegates, who are in Preah Sihanouk province next month for the World-Bays Club’s 2022 World Congress, on a tour of various beaches, islands and ecotourism communities, to showcase Cambodia’s high-end attractions and put the Kingdom on the map as a preferred travel destination, according to the Ministry of Tourism. This was discussed at a November 28 preparatory meeting for the December 9-14 congress, themed “Bays of Peace, Bays of Hope”, and the December 9-11 9th Sea Festival – the first since 2019, before Covid-19, the ministry noted in a statement.…
The Cambodia-Thailand merchandise trade increased by over one-fifth on-year in the January-October period, nearly missing the $4 billion mark, although imports from Thailand accounted for an 82.34 per cent share, Customs reported. Despite that, it may be possible to fill the trade gap in the long run, by stepping up and improving cooperation between the two countries, as well as ensuring Cambodia’s self-sufficiency in meeting domestic demand, analysts have said. The 10-month commodity trade between the two countries amounted to $3.952 billion, up 21.40 per cent year-on-year from $3.255 billion, with a monthly average of $395.203 million, according to the…
Cambodia is set to host the second round of formal talks on the bilateral Cambodia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CAM-UAE CEPA) from December 19-21, with the deal expected to have substantial positive effects on the Kingdom’s trade with the Middle East. A CEPA is a type of free trade agreement (FTA) generally designed for a more holistic coverage beyond just commodities, and can contain provisions for services, investments, dispute resolution, intellectual property rights, government procurement, and additional forms of specialised economic cooperation. Cambodia and the UAE held the first round of formal negotiations on the deal, in Abu…