Car sales sharply rise in Cambodia in 2012 due to strong economic growth

English.news.cn   2012-12-24 15:49:15

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Demand for brand new cars in Cambodia has remarkably increased in 2012 thanks to robust economic growth, enhanced social security and political stability, major automobile dealers said Monday. "We sold about 800 units this year, up from 500 units last year, "Kong Nuon, president of Toyota Cambodia, the exclusive dealer of Japanese brand Toyota, told Xinhua in an interview.
According to Kong Nuon, the country's new car demands are around 2,000 units a year. Currently, more than a dozen of companies in Cambodia have imported brand new cars.
Those autos are imported mostly from Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom, he said. "We set the target to sell about 1,000 units in 2013," he said.
China-made Great Wall brand automobiles also saw good sales this year, said Kan Pisey, general manger of Worldwide Garage, the exclusive importer of the cars from Beijing. "We have seen a steady increase in sales since our presence here in January 2010," he told Xinhua."We are new, but due to our promotion and our auto's good quality, many consumers have switched to use our cars."
Pisey declined to disclose the number of cars the company has sold out this year, citing business confidentiality. "We can say that Cambodia's car market has ample room for growth, "he said. "We are negotiating with the Beijing-based Great Wall Automobile Manufacturer in order to build an auto assembly plant here."
An exclusive dealer of the U.S.'Ford brand vehicle in Cambodia said that the firm saw 15 percent rise in sales in 2012. "In fact, demand was really larger than the supply this year. If we had enough cars for customers, the growth would be up by 50 percent, not by 15 percent, but we didn't have because our manufacturers suffered spare parts shortages resulted from the impacts of a devastated earthquake in Japan and massive flooding in Thailand last year,"said Ngorn Saing, deputy general manager of RM Asia.
He attributed the high demands to good economic performance, increased foreign investors, more newly-opened companies and better living conditions of Cambodian people. "Nowadays, more Cambodian people have begun to invest their money in luxurious and modern things thanks to their improved living conditions,"he said.
Besides brand new cars, the country's demands for the used cars are about 20,000 units per year.
The impoverished Southeast Asian nation has a population of 14. 5 million. The country's per capita GDP was 911 U.S. dollars in 2011, up 10 percent from 830 U.S. dollars in 2010, according to the government figures.
The country's economy is expected to grow by 7 percent to 15.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2012.

Cambodia's banking industry sees robust growth in 2012

English.news.cn   2012-12-25 19:21:23

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's banking sector has maintained strong and steady growth in terms of loans and deposits in 2012 thanks to better economic performance, a central bank's senior official said Tuesday.
"Our banking system remains robust this year despite economic crisis in Europe and economic slowdown in the United States. These bad situations do not affect our banking sector," Nguon Sokha, Director General of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), which is the regulator of the country's banking and financial institutions, told Xinhua.
"We see that both loans and deposits have sharply increased this year," she said.
According to the latest statistics provided by the NBC, the kingdom's 32 commercial banks have lent 5.49 billion U.S. dollars to private sectors by November 2012, up 30 percent year-on-year.
The loans went mostly to the sectors of trades, real estate, construction and mortgage, agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and services.
On the deposit side, the banks have received 6.02 billion U.S. dollars by November 2012, up 24 percent year-on-year, it said.
Those banks are serving about 1.6 million borrowers and 1.9 million depositors, it added.
Sokha said the increase in lending reflected growing business activities, while the rise in deposits truly mirrored people's confidence in banking system and political stability.
"We believe that the sector will continue to grow at a similar rate in 2013," she said.
So Phonnary, executive vice president of Acleda Bank, the country's largest commercial bank, agreed that the banking sector was strong and healthy this year.
She said Acleda Bank has released the loans of 1.22 billion U.S. dollars as of November this year, up 23 percent year-on-year. At the meantime, it has received the deposits of 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, up 22 percent year-on-year.
"Both loans and deposits have grown very well," she said. "More importantly, the non-performing loan rate, or bad loan, is very low--only 0.33 percent. This shows good business environment in the country."
Jang Ki-Sung, Chief Executive Officer of South Korea's Kookmin Bank Phnom Penh Branch, said Cambodia's banks have developed rapidly in terms of assets, liabilities and equity and are becoming more competitive and innovative because of new international standard banks' entrance and the management of the NBC.
"The banks have moved forward from a traditional strategy to an advanced strategy, and several banks have introduced internet and mobile banking, so more Cambodian customers have more chances to access advanced banking products and services with strong trust in the system," he told Xinhua in an interview.
"This is a positive sign to Cambodian economy and we believe the industry will still continue to grow as public trust to the industry has increased and the country's political situation is stable," he said.
"I believe that more foreign investors will come to Cambodia to support the integrated ASEAN economic community in 2015, and trade activities and tourists will continue to rise," Jang added.
Speaking in a condition of anonymity, a senior Chinese banker said that the banking market in Cambodia will see a great potential in the future, but, for now, the market is still relatively small and there are too many commercial banks.

Yearender: Hosting ASEAN Summit tops major achievements of Cambodia in 2012

English.news.cn   2013-01-01 10:50:04

by Nguon Sovan
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- The successful hosting of the 21st Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its related summits here in November was definitely the biggest achievement of Cambodia in 2012 despite some sad events such as the death of the venerated former King Norodom Sihanouk in October.
"In general, we can say that 2012 is a successful and proud year for Cambodia. The country sees full political stability and security and the economy grows very well," Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
He said 2012 also witnessed stronger ties between Cambodia and China.
"Both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao had visited Cambodia," he said, recalling that during Hu's visit to Phnom Penh at the end of March 2012, the two countries agreed to boost annual bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2017.
MATTER OF REPUTATION
He said that during the historic summit, Cambodia was able to welcome the heads of state of the member-countries of ASEAN and its dialogue partners, including leaders from the United States, China, South Korea and Japan.
"It was a great success for Cambodia to provide full security and safety for those leaders and we led the proceedings of the summits successfully," Phay Siphan said.
"Those leaders' presence here reflected their trust in Cambodia 's political stability and security and would build more confidence among foreign investors in Cambodia's economic environment," he added.
Prof. Sok Touch, deputy director general of the Royal Academy of Cambodia's International Relations Institute, said it was a great honor for a small and impoverished country like Cambodia to successfully host and chair a series of ASEAN summits with regional and global leaders.
"The success would raise Cambodia's prestige and reputation in the international arena," he told Xinhua.
ECONOMIC MOMENTUM GAINING
Besides success in politics, Phay Siphan said, on the economic side, the country could achieve a sustainable economic growth of around 7 percent for 2012, one of the fastest in the region.
"We see increases in all sectors supporting the economy including industrial sector, agriculture, tourism, real estate, and foreign direct investment," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said on Dec. 7 at the National Assembly's session that the GDP growth in 2012 is expected at 7 percent in equivalent to 15.6 billion U.S. dollars and the inflation rate will be as low as 2.9 percent.
Cambodia's economy is supported by four pillars--garment export, tourism, agriculture, and real estate.
He predicted that agriculture would grow by 2.4 percent, the industrial sector by 11.8 percent, services by 6.8 percent, and tourism services by 7 percent.
According to the latest government reports, during the first ten months of 2012, the country exported garment products valued at 3.82 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.6 percent compared with the same period in 2011, while tourism sector attracted some 2.86 million foreign tourists, a 24 percent rise.
For construction industry, the country attracted investments worth 1.83 billion U.S. dollars in the first nine months of 2012, a staggering 83 percent rise.
REGRETFUL EVENTS
Despite these significant achievements, there were a couple of regretful events happened in 2012.
One was that the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting held here in July failed to issue the customary joint communique due to apparent disagreement among member countries on the wordings in the document towards South China Sea disputes.
Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said in a press conference on July 13 that the failure was due to the insistence of some ASEAN individual countries to use strong language in the joint communique, which, to him, was unacceptable to Cambodia as the chair of ASEAN in 2012.
The other was the loss of Cambodia to South Korea in its bid for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC) for 2013-2014 in a vote at the UNSC in New York on Oct. 18.
"Winning or losing is normal. This is an experience for Cambodia," Phay Siphan said. "We congratulate South Korea for winning the seat. South Korea, just like Cambodia, wishes to contribute to world peace and stability."
In 2012, the country mourned the death of its most revered King- Father Norodom Sihanouk on Oct. 15 in Beijing.
The former king died of illness at the age of 90 and his body was returned to Cambodia by a Chinese special airplane on Oct. 17.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said the body would be cremated on Feb. 4, 2013 after lying in state for more than three months at the Royal Palace.

Cambodia's national carrier adds new aircraft, targeting Singapore, China

English.news.cn   2013-01-06 15:04:38

Flight attendants of Cambodia Angkor Air pose for photos next to the new Airbus 321 plane at Phnom Penh International Airport, Cambodia, Jan. 6, 2013. The national flag carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), added a new passenger plane on Sunday in order to expand new flight destinations to countries in the region, said a senior government official. (Xinhua/Phearum)

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The national flag carrier, Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), added a new passenger plane on Sunday in order to expand new flight destinations to countries in the region, said a senior government official.
"The new Airbus 321 plane is leased from an Airbus manufacturer in France," Tek Rethsamrach, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers and CAA's president, told reporters at a new plane welcoming ceremony at the Phnom Penh International Airport on Sunday.
"The plane will be used to operate to key international destinations including Phnom Penh-Hanoi, Phnom Penh-Bangkok, and soon, we will expand flights to Guangzhou City in China's Guangdong province, China's Hong Kong and Singapore," he said.
In the future, the CAA will also consider flying to one of India's cities, he added.
Those destinations have great potential for Cambodia's tourism, and the country has more active trade and investment relations with those countries and regions, he said.
To date, the CAA has two ATR-72 aircraft and three Airbus 321 aircraft, and has operated several international flights including Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap-Ho Chi Minh City, Siem Reap- Hanoi, Phnom Penh-Hanoi, and Siem Reap-Bangkok.
CAA officially launched operations in July 2009. It is a joint venture between the Cambodian government, which owns 51 percent of the stake, and Vietnam Airlines, which holds the remaining stake.