Economy and industry
Targeted strategies to boost exports being devised
The ministry’s International Trade Promotion Department will allocate the largest proportion of its trade-promotion budget for ASEAN markets, focusing on Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Malee Choklumlerd, director-general of the department, said it had been allocated a budget of Bt2 billion for the upcoming fiscal year, and ...
ASEAN urged to chart own course
ASEAN, now on its first year of economic unification, needs to decouple from China and become much better at telling the global community about its economic prospects, Citi’s regional fund services experts said. In the past, ASEAN had benefited from its robust trade with China, with ...
Thailand becomes ‘King of Cement’ in Vietnam
Thailand based Siam City Cement Public Company has agreed to purchase a 65% stake in cement manufacturer Holcim Vietnam HVL from French headquartered LafargeHolcim, according to an SCCC statement. HVL currently operates one integrated plant and four grinding plants with an annual cement capacity of 6.3 ...
Emergency meeting on rice
Cambodia’s beleaguered rice sector convened an emergency meeting on August 16 to tackle falling rice exports and help rice millers currently in financial doldrums due to severe shortage of funds to buy harvested rice from farmers to be milled for export. The Kingdom’s rice exports fell by ...
Vietnamese farmers indignant as Mekong Delta prays for flood waters to arrive
Fishermen in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been complaining about lower water levels and falling catches with experts blaming China’s construction of hydropower projects on the upper Mekong River. According to the experts, the dams have blocked fish from moving downstream and trapped sediment needed to enrich ...
Southeast Asian economy grew 4.6% in April-June
The Southeast Asian economy is recovering, posting the sharpest growth in a year and a half in the April-June quarter. The real gross domestic product of five major countries in the region – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines – expanded 4.6% from a year earlier, surpassing the 4.4% ...
Visitors to Cambodia spike after Thai terror
The number of visitors crossing into Cambodia through Poipet City spiked after last week’s bombings at tourist sites in Thailand, according to a senior official in the Banteay Meanchey provincial tourism department. The number of tourists coming in through the border town per day has almost ...
Indonesian president vows to fund ‘massive’ maritime infrastructure program
President Joko Widodo vowed on August 16 to develop all of Indonesia’s frontier areas, including the Natuna Islands close to where it is embroiled in a dispute with China, and outlined plans to fund a massive maritime infrastructure program to accelerate growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. “We ...
First joint meeting for nuclear plant
Cambodia and Russia on August 17 started discussing plans for the construction of a nuclear power plant in the Kingdom as the country’s energy demand soars due to its economic growth, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment. A joint working group between Cambodia and ...
Thailand gains clout as Southeast Asia's leading investor nation
Thailand has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s most enthusiastic investors in mutual funds as a growing middle class seeks ways to better manage its financial assets. “The Thai percentage is high, compared with the Southeast Asian average of about 10%,” said Yohei Kitano, senior analyst at ...
