Crime, corruption and power in Cambodia were examined by top US lawmakers, 19 May. Online scams are defrauding US citizens of over ten billion dollars a year, say experts. Congressional investigators probed evidence and quizzed experts about Asia’s scam barons. Damning evidence named individuals from the Cambodian ruling elite as scam network ringleaders.
As China and the US recently faced off in diplomatic talks, Cambodians may wonder where the kingdom sits in relation to its two global big brothers? Cambodia has made trade deals with both superpowers in recent years, so VOD takes a closer look at what was agreed, and what it means for business. Crucially VOD asks: has the Cambodian government promised more than it can deliver?
One million tons of fertilizer is stuck in the Strait of Hormuz on at least 20 ships. Fertilizer prices have spiked due to the Middle East conflict, which has severely constricted world supplies. Could this be make or break for Cambodian farmers, as the rice planting season approaches?
A major US newspaper investigation has accused Cambodia of growing a global cyber-scam industry, at the expense of traditional economic sectors like garments and tourism.
Cambodia has transitioned from a developing tourist hub, into a primary global engine for sophisticated cyber-fraud operations. So says an investigative report, published April 19, by the prestigious US newspaper, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
In the first quarter of 2026, Cambodia’s financial system reached a tense breaking point, revealing a massive gap between attempts to guarantee stability and liquidity—through a joint publicity campaign by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC), and the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA)—and the actual reality of a destabilized retail banking market.
In the context of the Cambodian economy between 2024 and 2026, a stark contradiction is observed between seemingly positive macroeconomic growth and a widespread household-level insolvency crisis. According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report released in late 2024, the Royal Government of Cambodia maintained a remarkably low public debt-to-GDP ratio of approximately 26.6%.
Since the end of the civil war in the late 1990s, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) government has shifted its narrative from the ‘1979 Liberation’ to ‘economic growth’ to justify its legitimacy.
The transition of political power in Cambodia from the era of former Prime Minister Hun Sen to that of Mr. Hun Manet in 2023 was a historic turning point that brought promises of administrative modernization and sustainable development.
The governance crisis and the roots of impunity in modern Cambodian society are not accidental; rather, they are the result of a meticulously engineered power
Cambodia’s ambition to transform itself into an upper middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050 marks one of the most significant historical
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