Tourism arrivals climbed again in August, but analysts warned that the data did not signify a recovery in the sector, with the gains mostly coming from visitors crossing overland borders rather than air arrivals from the higher-spending developed world. Last month 171,668 foreigners came to Cambodia, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Monday at an inauguration [...] [...more]
Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh called on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Monday to address “systematic” obstacles to the admission of least-developed countries (LDCs) into the trade body. Only three countries categorised as least-developed had been admitted to the global organisation since it was launched in 1995, he told officials from the WTO, World Bank, the European [...] [...more]
The Cambodian government approved US$84 million in investment applications in August, taking the total value of approvals for the year to date to $1.564 billion, official figures released Friday show. The new approvals included three agriculture and three industrial projects, said the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), the government’s chief investment body. The names of [...] [...more]
A shortage of “attractive” lending opportunities is posing profitability risks for the Kingdom’s banks given a growing deposit base and high interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said last week. The international financial organisation made the warning Wednesday as it presented its findings from two weeks of discussions with government ministers and senior officials on economic [...] [...more]
The government signed an amendment to an existing bilateral agreement with the United States on Wednesday that will provide US$7.79 million in funds for a programme aimed at boosting productivity in rural businesses. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said the money, which will be provided through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), would provide a [...] [...more]
The government will not renew its agreement with Bangkok Airways, under which the Thai-owned airline flies domestic routes, when it expires on October 25, a senior aviation official told the Post late Wednesday. State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Secretary of State Mao Havannal said the decision was made to give a boost to the new [...] [...more]
The global financial crisis has led to fewer visitors to Siem Reap and, therefore, big financial losses for many businesses that rely on the tourism trade. Some, however, have never been busier, including French expatriate Herve Nicole’s quad bike tour business, the only one of its kind in town. Nicole’s theory is that, although tourists are happy [...] [...more]
The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) has warned mobile-phone operators to monitor one another’s prices amid a continuing disagreement over the tariffs offered by Beeline, citing “remarkably” declining revenues in the sector. In an official account from a meeting of mobile operators, MPTC departments and Telecom Cambodia in Phnom Penh on August 14 obtained by [...] [...more]
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has revised its 2009 growth forecast for Cambodia upwards from a 3 percent contraction to a smaller 1.5 percent decline, citing changes to its global forecast. “The main reason we have revised up our Cambodia GDP forecast is that the global recession is likely to be less severe than we had [...] [...more]
Ground staff at Phnom Penh International Airport walk past a new Airbus A321 delivered Wednesday to the Kingdom’s new national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air. The airline – a joint venture between the Cambodian government and Vietnam Airlines – plans to use the aircraft to expand its services. The Airbus will begin flights on Saturday, an [...] [...more]
