Economy and industry

A Tender for private companies to work on a US$2.2 billion upgrade of the railway linking Myanmar’s two largest cities will be called at the end of this year, an official said on 23 May. Work on the Yangon-Mandalay railway, led by the Japan International Cooperation ...

The trade surplus in the first quarter of 2016 alone was five times higher than that of the entire year of 2012. But this could be bad news. In 2012, the country got trade surplus for the first time after 20 consecutive years of witnessing trade ...

Police oppose measures to relax regulations on migrant workers holding a temporary work permit, saying the move breaches international immigration principles and will adversely affect the country’s migrant labour management. The police Immigration Bureau recently voiced its objection to the measures through deputy national police ...

Australian firm Woodside Petroleum believes it has found more gas than previously estimated following two discoveries in Myanmar offshore earlier this year. The company has raised the estimated size of contingent resources in two of its blocks by 83 million barrels of oil equivalent to 4481mmboe, ...

The National Human Rights Commission will report to the government after its investigation on 23 May into alleged human rights violations in the Tak Special Economic Development Zone. Its conclusion was that the main problem in the dispute was the lack of opportunity for public involvement in the ...

Investor appetite is high for shares in Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Limited, which will on 20 May become the second company to list on the Yangon Stock Exchange, securities firms say. MTSH, established in 2013 by a nine-shareholder consortium, will list 3.9 million shares at a base ...

Teachers at Toul Mead Primary School in Siem Reap province tell students to bring drinking water from home to keep them hydrated in the scorching heat. But water is increasingly hard to come by as the worst drought in decades drags on. There is no free ...

Malnutrition costs the Cambodian economy an estimated $266 million each year, according to a new report, which urged the government to invest more in tackling the problem. Suboptimal breastfeeding and malnutrition in mothers were also factors, accounting for $36.9 million, which Wieringa said pointed to an ...

The Trans Pacific Partnership and ASEAN Economic Community are expected to offer more market opportunities for insurance companies in Viet Nam, but will also present tough challenges in a more competitive international environment. “The current Vietnamese insurance market is facing many disadvantages and hasn’t met its ...

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council plans, for the first time, to bring investors from China to meet with food processing companies in Thailand to boost investment as part of the Belt and Road initiative. Raymond Yip, deputy executive director of HKTDC said it would bring ...