The 2018 Water Festival in Phnom Penh saw a 50 per cent increase in visitors compared to last year, while those who headed to the provinces during the holiday rose by 15.6 per cent, the Ministry of Tourism’s official Facebook page said.

Some 4.5 million people attended the three-day festival in Phnom Penh, of which around 12,000 were foreigners, said the ministry’s data.

It said some 925,000 tourists travelled to the provinces, of which 842,000 were locals. The figure was up 15.3 per cent from last year. About 83,000 foreigners also travelled to the provinces – up 18.5 per cent.

Siem Reap Provincial Department of Tourism director Ngov Seng Kak said the number of tourists visiting temples and other resorts in Siem Reap during the three-day holiday was over 330,000 – up 18.53 per cent from last year.

More than 300,000 were local tourists (up 19.6 per cent), and 32,896 were foreigners – up three per cent.

“Tourists visiting Siem Reap have grown steadily, as the authorities have designed many entertainment activities along the river and Pub Street,” he said.

Seng Kak said there are currently more than 22,000 rooms at hotels and guesthouses in Siem Reap.

In the first 10 months of this year, Siem Reap received 2.09 million tourists or a more than eight per cent increase. They were led by visitors from China, South Korea, Japan and the US. As expected by the ministry, Siem Reap will receive a total of about 5.5 million guests this year, of which 2.5 million will be foreigners.

Kampot Provincial Department of Tourism director Soy Sinol said during the holidays, Kampot province saw nearly 100,000 visitors – up nearly 19 per cent from last year. Of the figure, nearly 90 per cent were local tourists.

Cambodia Association of Travel Agents president Chhay Sivlin said promoting the quality and value of services and political stability has played an important role in encouraging tourism to Cambodia.

“The number of tourists travelling to the northeast region increased during the Water Festival this year because there are a lot of services and natural settings,” she said.

According to the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), the higher tax would ensure that the country continues languishing among the bottom 10 countries in the world in terms of mining regulations. “The tax regime of the [local] industry is very high,” COMP chair Gerard Brimo told the Inquirer. “At the same time, the industry is burdened by a serious lack of policy stability.”

Brimo said that any further attempts to increase taxes on the back of “policy flip flops” would seriously discourage investment.

“And this is actually happening already,” he said. “Fraser Institute ranks the Philippines in the bottom five [worldwide] for uncertainty in mining regulations.”

Brimo was referring to results of the Fraser Institute Survey of Mining Companies 2016 that was released in 2017 where the Philippines ranked 100th out of 104 jurisdictions in the Policy Perception Index – one of two components of the survey.

In the other component – Best Practice Mineral Potential Index, which ranks the country in terms of whether the geology encourages investments in exploration – the Philippines was 10th out of 104.

The two indices combine as the overall Investment Attractiveness Index, which ranks the Philippines 66th out of 104. In the 2017 survey released earlier this year, the Philippines remained at the bottom 10 based in terms of policy perception – 85th out of 91.

In terms of mineral potential, the Philippines dropped 39 places to 49th out of 91.

Thus, the Philippines’ overall investment attractiveness ranking also dropped by nine ranks to 75th.

Brimo said the moratorium on minerals exploration – implemented through Executive Order No 79 of 2012 – and the ban on open-pit mining (ordered almost two years ago when Gina Lopez was environment secretary) now both need to be lifted. The COMP chair said that the mining industry, if allowed to grow, could contribute significantly to the economic development of the country. “Three pending mining projects can bring the industry’s exports to over 9 per cent of total [Philippine] exports and increase the industry’s contribution to about 1.4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product [GDP]. As of 2017, mining accounted for 6.4 per cent of exports and 0.8 per cent of GDP.”

Brimo was referring to the Tampakan copper project, King-king copper-gold project and Silangan copper and gold project – all in Mindanao and on hold because of the ban on open-pit mining.

Together, these three projects are expected to engage US$4.7 billion in capital investments and ring up revenues of 303 billion pesos (Bt191 billion) for the national government and 40 billion pesos for local governments.

Following protests by business representatives, the government has stepped back from its policy of removing 54 business sectors from the current negative investment list (DNI).

Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the new policy, which was part of the 16th economic stimulus package was still in the discussion stage.

“We will assess together, not [the government] alone. After this discussion stage, we will sit together and the results will be conveyed to the President,” said Darmin as reported by kontan.co.id.

He said he would attend the national leadership meeting of the Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry today to discuss the new DNI with members of the lobby group.

Darmin’s statement followed criticism by Kadin and the Indonesian Employers Association of the policy.

Kadin had called on the government to delay the implementation of the policy, which was initially to be announced next Monday. – The Jakarta Post

Singapore factory output in October beats forecasts

Singapore’s manufacturing output grew 4.3 per cent year on year in October, more than rebounding from September’s 0.1 per cent dip and exceeding economists’ expectations of 2.6 per cent growth.

Excluding the volatile biomedical manufacturing sector, output grew 3 per cent, preliminary estimates from the Economic Development Board yesterday showed.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, October’s manufacturing output also ended a three-month streak of decline, instead growing 2 per cent, or 3.9 per cent without biomedical manufacturing.

On the downside, electronics output fell for the second straight month, down 2.7 per cent year on year, with semiconductors, computer peripherals and data storage seeing contraction. Other electronic modules and components grew 5.1 per cent, and infocomms and consumer electronics segments grew 1.7 per cent.

Despite this, the electronics cluster’s output has still seen a cumulative increase of 8.9 per cent from January to October, compared to the same period the year before. – The Straits Times

Laos shuts almost 1,000 wood-processing plants

Nearly 1,000 wood-processing plants across Laos have been shut down since Prime Minister’s Order No 15 was issued in May 2016.

Prior to the order, there were 2,102 wood processing plants but the number has now fallen to 1,150, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith informed the National Assembly last week.

“The government will step up inspections and work to improve more plants to ensure they meet quality standards,” he said.

Following the move, the government’s taskforce and other authorities have seized illegally harvested timber which has been sold by tender, fetching US$1.94 million (Bt64 million), Thongloun revealed.

The government has resolved to sell the remaining seized illegal wood by tender and to speed up payments by winning bidders who have not yet handed over the money they owe.

The drastic measures under the order were intended to reform regulation of the timber industry and ensure that only finished wood products are exported. Since the Order was issued, Laos is starting to see the fruitful results of stronger forest governance and address the chronic problem of illegal logging, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

No more govt-guaranteed loans for state enterprises

The Lao government will no longer act as a guarantor for state enterprises that plan to borrow funds for their investment and expansion, according to a senior government leader.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Somdy Duangdy, told the National Assembly earlier this week that the government would not allow state enterprises to use its status to back their loan plans. However, he said the government would be happy to support state enterprises in borrowing money to invest in projects that had the capacity to yield a profit. State-owned companies must provide evidence that they will be able to generate income and repay bank loans otherwise they will not get government support. Analysis shows the key message from the government is that it will support state enterprises that want to borrow money to invest but will not help them to repay loans.

In the past, the government borrowed money from international financial institutions and friendly countries to invest in state-owned enterprises. But in recent years the government has found that many of these enterprises were performing poorly.

As the loan guarantor, the government must be responsible for paying back the loan, not the company, in cases where state firms are unable to generate income and repay the loan and the interest accrued.

According to the deputy premier, the government must stop borrowing money for state enterprises because it has to rein in public debt otherwise the country will face financial instability.

At present, public debt is about 60 per cent of GDP. Many economists view this amount of debt as being very high and say Laos would be at risk if the country faced an external shock.

According to a report from the government, there are nearly 200 state-owned enterprises, many of which are underperforming.

Garuda eyes foreign travellers in online travel fair

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia aims to expand its reach during the Garuda Online Travel Fair (GOTF) by also eyeing foreign travellers to Indonesia, Garuda Indonesia commercial director Pikri Ilham Kurniansyah said in Jakarta.

Garuda Indonesia is offering 1.6 million seats with discounts of up to 75 per cent to both domestic and international destinations during the fair, which ends on Thursday. It is the third online travel fair held by the airline this year. As an example, a Jakarta-Denpasar return ticket was sold for 1.14 million rupiah (Bt2,600), while a Jakarta-Tokyo return ticket was offered at 4.41 million rupiah.

“We are also targeting buyers from other countries to come to Indonesia too. The GOTF can be accessed by people from all around the world,” Pikri said, mentioning countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Australia, Japan and South Korea, among others. During the three-day fair, Garuda Indonesia is targeting sales of 200 billion rupiah, 30 per cent of which is expected from buyers from other countries.

The message came from the President of the National Institute for Economic Research, Bouasone Bouphavanh, when speaking on Friday at a conference on the lessons to be learnt from economic restructuring in Vietnam. The meeting discussed these lessons and was attended by ministers, deputy ministers and director generals from various ministries.

Bouasone stressed that methods of economic restructuring should be incorporated in the national agenda and in the report to the 11th Party Congress and the government’s five-year plan for national socio-economic development.

“Economic restructuring or reform is essential to enable any country to break through the hardship of economic downturn as well as other economic difficulties,” he said.

The restructuring of economic strategic plans was being adopted and put into practice globally to ease the impacts of the recent economic downturn.

“Vietnam is a great example of economic restructuring because of its obvious impressive achievements since 2011. The country’s GDP rose from 5.8 per cent in 2011 to 6.21 per cent in 2016 and to 6.81 per cent in 2017,” Bouasone said.

Laos also enjoyed steady economic growth from 2006-2015 at an average annual rate of 7.93 per cent, while poverty declined from 28 per cent in 2008 to 20 per cent in 2015 and to 13 per cent in 2017.

“However, if we make an in-depth analysis, Laos’ economic growth has been unstable since the Asian economic crisis in 1997, resulting in a drop in GDP and a surge in inflation. It took us four to five years to turn the situation around,” he added.

Economic growth declined from 7 per cent in 2016 to 6.7 per cent in 2017 and to 6.5 per cent in 2018.

Also speaking at the meeting, President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Dr Nguyen Quang Thuan, said Vietnam had made significant changes in its bid to restructure the economy and shift the growth model towards improving the quality of growth. “The three key reforms implemented in Vietnam included restructuring public investment, state-owned enterprises and commercial banks,” he said.