The FTA with China is Cambodia’s first bilateral trade agreement with a foreign country, and the negotiations occurred amid the backdrop of growing Chinese influence and investments in the construction, real estate, and tourism markets.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, performers and art groups began to feel the pinch because the government prohibited all public gatherings, even closing theaters and other performance venues. VOA Khmer spoke to contortionists, puppet masters and performers in Battambang and Phnom Penh.
On average, garment workers informed surveyors that their monthly payments for food and debt repayments exceeded their salaries.
The current minimum wage is $190 a month for 2020, up from the $182 workers were paid per month in 2019.
From 2016 to August 2019, Chinese inflows of investment into Sihanoukville peaked at about $2 billion, according to the Cambodian Development Council.
Suppliers cannot pay their workers, and with brands canceling orders, union workers VOA Khmer spoke to have called on buyers to stay with them during challenging times.
The European Union has said that the release of opposition leader Kem Sokha and the reinstatement of the CNRP were incumbent to preventing a trade privileges suspension.
Workers and unionists were quick to reject this move and said they were already facing a loss of salary on account of a large number of factories suspending production and that they needed these indemnity payments to try and sustain their households.
In a press release, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said it would phase out the $1, $2, $5 bills, while pushing for the use of the Cambodian riel. The statement was released after a meeting with bank and MFI representatives.
It projected that the coronavirus pandemic-induced slowdown had affected three of Cambodia’s economic engines – tourism, manufacturing exports, and FDI inflows.
Interior Minister Sar Kheng last month raised concerns over the livelihood prospects of these migrant workers, suggesting they could slip back into poverty.
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