For many, the Covid-19 pandemic brought their years of business to its knees.
In Siem Reap, the tourism capital of Cambodia which posted a 97 per cent year-on-year fall in tourist arrivals as at end-November last year, saw nearly 1,500 hospitality-related outlets close down by September that year.
As for garment manufacturing, an industry that has held up Cambodia’s economy for decades, some 130 facilities have ceased operation.
A check around Phnom Penh would reveal shuttered businesses dotting the streetscape. What’s more, the negative impact is still unfolding as retail businesses, be it a coffee shop, local restaurant or convenient store, progressively ceased operation as the New Year rolled in.
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Chinese FDI has flowed into real estate and construction, evidenced in developments such as these on Koh Pich. Sangeetha Amarthalingam
Is Cambodia poised for more FDI as neighbours face political, Covid-19 uncertainties?
Thu, 4 February 2021
As some Southeast Asian nations face internal issues, the Kingdom’s stability could be an attractive destination to investors, but institutional setbacks might turn them away
Days after the shock military takeover of Myanmar’s government and the imposition of a one-year state of emergency, some investors pulled the brakes on foreign direct investments (FDI) as sanctions by the US and India loomed.
One of them was Thai-owned industrial estate developer Amata Corp Public Co Ltd, which suspended its $1 billion project in Myanmar, fearing that the turn of events would put off investors, Nikkei Asia wrote on Monday.
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Rice inventories are at risk of expanding if exports are pressured by high ocean freight rates. Heng Chivoan
Cambodia’s export-import challenged by staggering ocean freight rates
Thu, 28 January 2021
Global surge in container shipping rates are pressing shippers who have had to absorb 25 to 30 per cent of costs at a time when every penny matters
‘Crazy world,” Song Saran, president of Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF), exclaimed in the company of industry players on the sharp uptick of ocean freight rates.
The rates, which have been rising since the second half of 2020, are now five to 10 times more than a year ago, resulting in a 30 to 35 per cent additional cost on import-export trade in Cambodia.
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Reeling in Cambodia’s real estate sector
Thu, 14 January 2021
A new norm sets the scene but risks continue to play out in the background
A cold wind sweeps through the streets of Boeung Trabek on an early January morning as buyers and traders engage in commerce under bright blue skies.
From a distance, the scene of the market complex where local wares entice shoppers is colourful and vibrant.
Just before it lies its former extension, now occupied by an abandoned massive mixed development project that looms above the market din.
The $250 million Sino Plaza, once prophesied as the largest integrated complex in Phnom Penh largely due to its extensive onsite facilities, was so promising that it was to be built by one of the biggest contractors in the world by revenue, China State Engineering Co Ltd.
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Phnom Penh’s growth has been supported by strong development in the real estate and construction sector in the past 10 years. Hong Menea
Raising the alarm on rising private debt
Thu, 31 December 2020
Although Cambodia’s
economic growth has been somewhat underpinned by strong credit growth, it is starting to worry experts as the pandemic prolongs
After years of expanding credit to the private sector which fuelled economic growth, Cambodia might have to come to terms with a burgeoning private debt, one which the World Bank warned as having “substantially increased” in the past two decades.
It does not help that the pandemic is further weighing down on it, although monetary measures have temporarily staved off risks of increased indebtedness.