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Kingdom joins ASEAN securities plan
Tue, 16 March 2021
The newly-renamed Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) and its nine capital-market-regulator counterparts in ASEAN on March 15 signed a new five-year Action Plan 2021-2025 for the development of the sector.
The plan was signed during the 34th ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) hosted via video link by Bruneian central bank Monetary Authority of Brunei Darussalam, which also regulates capital markets in the small country on the island of Borneo, ACMF said in a press release.
“The action plan builds on ACMF Action Plan 2016-2020, and was developed with feedback from capital market participants and other stakeholders to ensure [its inclusivity and relevance], particularly amid the new normal.
The Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia and Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) have vowed to use an online system to facilitate business transactions as well as to keep the market afloat amidst economic uncertainty brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sou Socheat, director-general of the regulator, which recently changed its name from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC), told The Post on March 11 the regulator is optimistic about adopting a digital platform to facilitate internal and external workflows.
“We set up the online mechanism in April 2020 and are continuing to use it internally and with relevant stakeholders in order to manage a smooth” transition when the time comes to officially adopt it, he said.
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A young doctor in Phnom Penh’s Preah Ang Duong Hospital holds up a vial of Covishield vaccine. The doses were rolled out from March 10. Hong Menea
A record wrecked - Cambodia comes to terms with first Covid-19 fatality
Thu, 11 March 2021
After a year-long record of zero human loss, the Kingdom might have double down efforts to save her people and the economy by making several unaccustomed moves
News of Cambodia’s first Covid-19 fatality, a 50-year-old driver from Phnom Penh, sent the social media into a frenzy, and shivers across the local stock exchange, which saw a $66.6 million wipe out of the index’s total market capitalisation year-to-date on Thursday.
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.
Stock-listed utility Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PWSA) reported strong growth and solid overall business performance last year despite economic disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a full-year 2020 financial report filed to the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) on March 2, PWSA said revenues amounted to 324,367,856,000 riel ($79.68 million), up 107,871,040,000 riel or 49.83 per cent from 2019.
Full-year net-profit came in at 88,351,845,000 riel, gaining 55,059,932,000 riel or 165.39 per cent year-on-year, the state-owned enterprise said without specifying which particular profit measure (gross, operating, net) it was referring to.
In the fourth quarter, PWSA netted 86,884,128,000 riel in revenue, climbing 46,434,466,000 or 114.80 per cent compared to the third quarter, and raked in 18,785,810,000 riel in profit, soaring 24,818,244,000 riel or 411.41 per cent quarter-on-quarter.