Factory openings provide 50,000 new jobs
More than 100 new factories were registered during the first nine months of the year, creating over 50,000 jobs, a government spokesman said on November 10. Oum Sotha, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, said the ministry recorded 116 new factory openings from January through September, providing 51,548 new jobs. “According to our figures, factory growth was 11 percent larger than during the same period a year ago,” he said, adding that the openings push the total number of registered factories in the Kingdom to 1,554. “Some small factories have shut down because they were just operating as subcontractors, however, the big factories are all operating as normal,” Sotha said. He projected strong factory growth figures for the remainder of the year, noting that beverage giant Coca-Cola was expected to open a new $100 million factory in Phnom Penh SEZ in December.
