Economy and commerce
Japan's economic growth fizzles out in second quarter
Japan’s economy stagnated in the second quarter, data showed on Monday, falling below expectations and rekindling worries about the government’s faltering bid to stoke a recovery. Weak figures on August 15 come as Japanese officials face growing pressure to deliver and economists increasingly write off ...
State seeks ways to raise shipments
The government is scheduled to call a joint meeting of Thai commercial counsellors and trade ministers from 65 offices worldwide next month to evaluate exports in the remaining months and map out new strategies to boost shipments in the year to come. Infrastructure development projects such ...
Oil firm ready to push ahead with offshore drilling
Singapore-listed oil and gas firm KrisEnergy Ltd is moving closer to finalising its deal with the Cambodian government that will pave the way for extraction from the Block A offshore oil field once negotiations over a technical strategy and fiscal regime have been finalised. Tanya Pang, ...
Sihanoukville port IPO rescheduled
The state operator of Sihanoukville’s deep-sea port has pushed back the expected date of its initial public offering to February 2017 in order to give the company more time to resolve land titling and taxation issues, a company official said on August 11. Ty Sakun, ...
Vietnam dealbook: Malaysia’s Mitra Energy, Thai Union strike M&As
Malaysia’s Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Mitra Energy has reached a sales and purchase agreement with Japan’s Teikoku Oil to acquire a 30 per cent interest in Vietnam’s oilfields in the Nam Con Son basin. Meanwhile, Songkla Canning, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Union ...
Vietnam's fast economic growth is quietly slipping, but no one cares
In central Ho Chi Minh City, financial hub of the fast-growing Vietnamese economy, 20-somethings with designer hairdos jump out of polished black sedans to pack the coffeehouses on every block and fill restaurants serving sushi and chicken in passion fruit sauce. It’s odd then that ...
World Bank staff point to 'leadership crisis' at global lender
Staff at the World Bank delivered a broadside against its sitting president this week, saying the global lender faced a “crisis of leadership” and risked irrelevance on the world stage. The rebuke, made in an open letter from the Bank’s staff association, came as informal talks ...
Singaporean firms find room to grow in Cambodia
Singaporean firms are taking an increasingly close look at the Cambodian market, both as a low-cost offshore production base and as a destination for their goods and services. Ho Meng Kit, CEO of the Singapore Business Federation, which represents 22,500 Singaporean companies, said as Cambodia ...
Indian pills fuel drug boom in Myanmar
Five years ago, when cold pills first trickled across Myanmar’s untamed border with India, many local officials were baffled. Where was this medicine going, and why were smugglers so interested in it? Today, the cross-border trickle has become a torrent and everyone knows why the Indian-made ...
Malaysian trade agreement inked at Phnom Penh business forum
Cambodia and Malaysia took strides on August 9 to enhance bilateral trade and investment, holding a business forum in Phnom Penh and inking a cooperation agreement aimed cementing existing ties – and forging new ones. Malaysia is one of the top investors in Cambodia, and a cornerstone ...
