Wednesday, January 02, 2008Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
The Ly Hour exchange house indicated that the price of gold in Phnom Penh reached $1,000 per damloeung (1 damloeung is 1 Chinese tael, about 1.2 Troy ounce). In December of 2006, the price of gold was only $765 per damloeung. The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper reported that the Ly Hour exchange house said that the gold price increase was due to an increase on the international market. Economist Kang Chan Dara Roath said that the current price increase of gold on the international market is due to the worsening of the political situation in Pakistan because of the assassination of Ms. Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan and the current leader of an opposition party. Following that assassination, security in the region changed and the OPEC countries which relied on gold (??) for their transactions, caused the increase in gold price. Nevertheless, Kang Chan Dara Roath said that the increase of gold price does not affect the economy as much as the increase of oil price.
