Nonperforming loans have increased in some banks though the number for the banking system over all has decreased 3 percent according to the National Bank of Cambodia. ANZ Royal Bank has seen a rise to 5.7 percent while Canadia Bank rose to 6.5 percent. Other banks saw a fall including Foreign Trade Bank whose rate dropped to 3.2 percent.
Staff of the Angkor Village Hotel and Resort in Siem Reap have begun protested after the owner fired a total of 30 trade union officials and members after the staff joined a union in July. The dispute initially started when the owner of the hotel attempted to fire the chef after she accused the chef of trying to poison the other staff, the union stepped in to protect the chef at which point the owner supposedly began to fire others. The provincial labor department has asked that the hotel cease firing staff.
Kampuchea Angkor Express and Virak Buntham Express Travel, two bus companies that share a fleet of busses and operate services running between Siem Reap, Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam have both been involved in bus crashes recently. A number of passengers were injured or killed in both cases and blame has been placed upon the drivers. The Interior Ministry is set to hold a meeting concerning road safety.
Vattanac Properties Ltd’s president has denied ownership of a building site where construction has damaged the surrounding block of historic French Colonial era buildings. Chhung Leang who is also a cofounder of Vattanac Bank has said that the site is owned by an individual but has not named that person. Some of the surrounding builds are now uninhabitable but it is not clear who owns the construction site and is ultimately responsible for reparations.
With prices creeping upward and the central bank looking to take monetary action to fight inflation, the government has suspended the publication of the monthly Consumer Price Index, an official at the Ministry of Pallning said yesterday. Sam Saroeun, deputy director of the statistic department in the Ministry of Planning, said that the Ministry of Finance had requested his ministry, not publish the CPI report, which details June’s inflation rate. An official at the Ministry of Finance, however, said he was unaware of any suspension of statistics on consumer prices.
The European Union has said that it has no plans to suspend Cambodia’s duty-free trade access even though there have been concerns over land evictions as a result of economic land concessions. The EU is seeking that human rights are not the cost of trade benefits, this was in conjunction to the Everything But Arms (EBA) program which Cambodia is a part of. One of the main issues is the land disputes villagers have with Ly Yong Phat and his sugar companies in Koh Kong, Kompong Speu and Oddor Meanchey provincies. (By Hul Reaksmey, pg. 26)
Seized and then sold wood has apparently been stolen from the Try PHeap Import Export Company which bought the lumber. The wood amounts to approximately 42 cubic meters and is priced at over $37,000. Blame for the theft is being cast everywhere including on the company that owns the wood as well as the police.
A week after government officials ordered Vattanac Properties to halt work on a construction site causing damage to a string of colonial-era building along Phnom Penh’s SIsowath Quay, representatives from the company arrived at the scene yesterday to inspect the affected buildings. Three Vattanac employees, including one architect, examined the most extensively damaged building, No 377, the closest building to the Vattanac site. The affected block is located between streets 178 and 184.
A joint venture between Yayasan Restu, a Malaysian organization, and the Cambodian Muslim Development Foundation is set to establish a microfinance institution with $1 million in start-up capital. The institution will allow members of Cambodia’s Myslim community to obtain loans necessary to start small businesses. Othsman Hassan, president of the Cambodian Mslim Development Foundation, discussed the project with visiting Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last Friday, though it will be several months before the new institution is up and running, Mr Hassan said on Sunday.
Cambodia’s central bank is looking to tighten monetary policy to slow an inflation rate that could hit 8 to 9 percent this year, National Bank of Cambodia Director General and Spokeswoman Nguon Sokha said yesterday. Increases in commodity prices and petroleum has led to rising prices around the globe, and may cause further price inflation in Cambodia this year. The NBC is committed to maintaining price stability and Cambodia is not alone in the region in considering a tightened monetary policy, she said.
Cambodian exporters ought to make further use of tariff-free entry to the European Union, particularly given loosened regulations governing rule of origin, EU officials said at a trade seminar yesterday. Least Developed Countries such as the Kingdom could export to the EU duty and quota free, as long as the country manufactured 40 per cent of the product’s value, officials said. Prior to January 2011, the bar was higher, at 70 per cent.
THE supply of pharmaceutical products has outstripped demand, causing a decrease in the value of drug imports during the first half of 2011, experts say. An increase in the number of firms importing pharmaceutical products in 2010 led to this year’s drop, Medical Trust Company Sales Manager Kaing Koh Seng said. Figures from Ministry of Commerce’s Camcontrol Department show the value of drugs imported fell to US$52.1 million during the first six months of 2011, from $58.3 million in the same period last year.
ABA Bank has been awarded “Cambodia Retail Bank of the Year” award by this year’s Asia Banking & Finance Retail Banking Awards. With 150 bankers from across Asia on hand to congratulate the winners in Singapore, ABA Bank Deputy Chief Executive Officer Askhat Azhikhanov said the bank won the prestigious award due to its commitment to providing quality service in Cambodia. The Asia Banking and Finance award nominees were screened by partners from top Asian firms, including Pricewaterhouse Coopers, KPMG, Deloitte, and Ernst and Young.
Cambodia’s central bank is looking to tighten monetary policy to slow an inflation rate that could hit 8 to 9 percent this year, National Bank of Cambodia Director General and Spokeswoman Nguon Sokha said yesterday.
Increases in commodity prices and petroleum has led to rising prices around the globe, and may cause further price inflation in Cambodia this year. The NBC is committed to maintaining price stability and Cambodia is not alone in the region in considering a tightened monetary policy, she said.
Given Cambodia’s high degree of dollarisation – by most estimates more than 90 percent of the Kingdom’s currency – the central bank has relatively few policy instruments to use and the effectiveness of some its monetary policy options are limited.
Leaning over the railing on the roof of the Khmeroyal Hotel along Phnom Penh’s Sisowath Quay, 54-year-old scholar and long-time Cambodian resident Oliver de Bernon peered across at his crumbing riverfront apartment yesterday. Residents of the block between streets 178 and 184 on Sisowath Quay complained to Daun Penh district in June that excavation on a Vattanac Properties project, said to be either a hotel or a bank, had caused extensive damaged to their homes and businesses. At a scheduled meeting of government officials, Vattanac respresentatives and building owners slated for today, Mr de Bernon said he would also suggest that an apparatus be placed around the perimeter of the building to keep it from falling.
The number of visitors arriving in Cambodia in the first six months of this year has increased 13.4 percent to 1,385,029, compared to the same period in 2010, Kong Sophearak, director of the statistics department at the Ministry of Tourism, said yesterday. The largest influx of visitors came from Vietnam, growing 18.5 percent compared to the first half of 2010, to 289,029, while Chinese visitors increased 34.9 percent to 113,775, representing the largest percentage change, said Mr Sophearak. Cambodia also welcomed 172,5683 South Koreans a 19.8 percent increase compared to the same period.
More than 600 chickens in two villages in Banteay Meanchey province have been culled following the death of a girl from bird flu three weeks ago. The four-year-old died on July 20, only 10 days after showing symptoms of the disease, according to a joint statement from the Ministry of Health and World Health Organisation released on Friday. Officials are also attempting to control a separate outbreak in Takeo province.
Carlsberg has said it is investigating a strike by Angkor beer promoters, who yesterday vowed to continue in their bid for fair treatment. More than 30 beer promoters have been striking since last Monday, accusing Angkor brewer Cambrew of refusing to pay overtime despite a July 7 ruling by the Arbitration Council that it was legally required to do so. The women, who usually promote the brand in restaurants and nightspots, have been handing out leaflets calling for the public to boycott it instead.
Thousands of workers who were sacked after part of the June Textile garment factory burned down in March are finally receiving severance payments and other awards following a ruling from the Arbitration Council. Taing Kisay, an administration assistant at the factory, said yesterday that more than half the 4,096 workers who lost their jobs would get payments soon. The Arbitration Council ruled on June 16 that June Textile had to pay workers compensation.
Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed to increase the number of vehicles permitted to travel through the Trapeang Sre border gate in Kratie province, aiming to boost cross-border commerce and tourism. The agreement allows 300 vehicles from each country to register to pass freely through the border gate, said Soun Van Hong, Deputy Director of the Land Transport Department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport. This is the third extension to the quota for Trapeang Sre gate, which connects with Vietnam’s Hoa Lu gate in Binh Phuoc province.
