The Cambodian economy is expected to expand 4.5% this year as exports to the U.S. surged but construction approvals and cement imports plunged, the World Bank said in its latest economic update.
Workers seeking compensation from the shuttered Canteran Apparel garment factory have moved their tents to the sidewalk after they were made to leave the factory compound, they said.
Street vendors of all stripes around Phnom Penh manufacturing districts say their small businesses are becoming nearly impossible to sustain, one of the many knock-on effects of a decline in the country’s garment industry amid the global pandemic.
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia has filed court action against the E.U. seeking to reverse the bloc’s partial suspension of trade benefits over human rights violations.
With sinking exports and suspended production lines, the garment industry and a labor union continued appeals for help from the government and others this week, respectively renewing calls for a delayed partial withdrawal of trade benefits and quicker processing of worker payouts.
Amid economic risks from the global coronavirus outbreak and the E.U.’s partial suspension of duty-free trade benefits, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday laid out measures aimed at shoring up the nation’s key tourism and garment sectors.
Garment factory workers will receive a minimum wage of $190 a month from January 1, 2020, an increase of $8, the Labor Ministry announced on Friday.
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