Monday, September 17, 2007

Cambodian stock exchange plans criticised

17/09/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia's opposition leader says the country isn't ready for a planned stock exchange, and ordinary investors will end up losing out.

The Cambodian government says it wants an exchange set up within two years, and has enlisted help from South Korea.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program he is concerned about the transparency of the stock exchange.

"As long as we don't ensure the rule of law, as long as we don't really fight against corruption, any stock exchange in Cambodia will not function properly," he said.

Brett Sciaroni, chair of the American Cambodian Business Council, says the passage of anti-corruption legislation should not hold up development of a local securities market.

And he argues that if done correctly, the introduction of a stock exchange will inevitably lead to greater transparency from local businesses.

"There'll be a trade off - they'll have to disclose what they're doing," he said.

"So they'll see the trade-off between the need for capital and disclosure of information which has heretofore been held pretty closely."

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