Helping women find better employment opportunities is key to ensuring they feel able to report rape and sexual abuse, government and civil society representatives said yesterday.
Although Cambodian courts are prosecuting an increasing number of cases involving violence against women, economic concerns stop many from reporting all but the most extreme abuse, officials said. …
As part of the action plan, the ministry hopes to expand a program of one-stop service centres currently based in Siem Reap and Kampong Thom provinces, which offer victims healthcare, legal and social consultation and career training. …
Cambodian migrant workers sent home $256 million last year, according to a report from a U.N. agency and the World Bank, which was released in Bangkok yesterday.
The report from the bank and Rome-based International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), titled Sending Money Home to Asia, found that migrants from Asia sent a total of $260 billion in international remittances in 2012. …
“[B]ut high [bank] fees and limited financial services outside of urban areas are reducing the benefits of those remittances for millions of rural residents,” says a joint statement accompanying the report.
The report does not specifically outline how serious these problems are in Cambodia, which received $256 million, or 1.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), in remittances last year. Workers sending money home are charged on average 5.59 percent on remittances to Cambodia, the report says. ….
But the report notes Cambodia’s high saturation of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the provinces means that rural access to remittances is likely better than elsewhere.
MFI’s account for 26 percent of transfers to Cambodia, but the costs for these transfers average 10 percent of the amount being sent, the report says. …
Moeun Tola, head of the labor program at the Community Legal Education Center, said many migrant workers, especially those working in Thailand send money back through informal channels, which would not be included in the report. …
Vietnam’s investment in Cambodia has increased significantly in the last three years, but a mechanism to encourage and oversee investments in prioritized sectors is needed, according to diplomatic sources.
Tan Nguyen Tien, head of the economic section at the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, said Vietnam’s investments in Cambodia quadrupled from $566 million in 41 projects in 2010 to $2.5 billion last year. …
Tien said Vietnam Airlines’ direct services between the two countries and Viettel’s telecom service in Cambodia have helped boost Vietnamese investment in that country. …
There are also four projects in the energy sector with a total investment of nearly $800 million, five in finance-banking with $250 million, one telecom project capitalized at $150 million, and a civil aviation project worth $100 million.
Vietnamese FDI in Cambodia is expected to top $4 billion by 2015, and trade between the countries to increase from $3 billion last year to $5 billion by 2015. …
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday lashed out at the opposition party’s concerns over the interest rates charged by commercial banks to farmers.
SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said commercial banks in Cambodia charge customers very high interest rates, and said it is much higher than in other countries. …
However, the premier, speaking at the opening of a new rubber processing plant in Stung Treng province said Sovann’s words do not apply with the market practice and the real situation in Cambodia’s economy. …
“Based on the market economy, they don’t allow the state to handle commercial bank. We have a national bank which cannot provide that serivce to customers. If people have money to deposit at the bank, they will get five per cent, some give four per cent and other 5.6 per cent [interest rate],” said Hun Sen. …
“To lower the interest rate to one per cent, it would kill the bank … They are against the political protectionism,” he said. …
According to the statistics from the National Bank of Cambodia, the Kingdom’s 32 commercial banks have lent $5.49 billion to about 1.6 million borrowers by November 2012, up 30 per cent year-on-year. …
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced in late March that the nation was on target to move from the status of a low-income to a lower-middle-income nation by the end of 2013, ranking it the 15th country that obtained high economic growth in the world in the last 10 years. …
Historically, however, Cambodia has relied on the role of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as the backbone of a sustainable economy. Generally in Cambodia when we talk about SME economic activities, we are in fact talking about micro-small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as out of the more than 500,000 economic establishments or enterprises counted in the 2011 Cambodia Economic Census, some 493,000 of them employ only one to 10 employees. …
Growth in the number of MSMEs could help expand the economy, create more jobs, facilitate Foreign Direct Investment, and enlarge the tax collection base. The 2011 census shows that more than 500,000 economic establishments were engaged in economic activities, employing more than 1.6 million laborers or approximately 20 percent of the total Cambodian labor force. …
According to the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), around 72 percent of Cambodian enterprises are family-run businesses with one to three employees (2009). Out of 505,134 enterprises, only 3.5 percent were registered at the Ministry of Commerce in 2011. This means that the majority of enterprises are in the informal sector, effectively preventing them from accessing finance because banks and monetary financial institutions require SMEs to have legal status to be eligible to apply for a loan. …
Major financial institutions show more trust in providing loans to the agricultural sector, evidenced by increasing agricultural loan disbursement, thanks to potential growth in the sector and better preparation of financial report among borrowers, according to industry insiders.
Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest domestically owned bank, has been increasing its percentage share of its loan portfolio into agriculture from 15 per cent two years ago to 19 per cent at the end of March.
While the bank’s total loan portfolio reached about $1.35 billion at the end of March this year, In Channy, the bank’s president and chief executive said $254 million was given to agricultural loans, which represents about 19 per cent of total lending. …
Acleda Bank, Cambodia’s largest domestically owned bank, has been increasing its percentage share of its loan portfolio into agriculture from 15 per cent two years ago to 19 per cent at the end of March. …
Kim Savuth, the president of the Federation of Cambodian Rice Exporters agreed that accessing loans from banks and MFIs is easier compared to some previous years.
Nevertheless, he said farmers still suffer because of higher interest rates offered by micro lenders, while strict requirements from banks were still a barrier for rice millers.
If you’ve applied for a mortgage recently, you know how hard it can be. The bank demands all kinds of obscure documents and wants proof of almost every asset you own. But an innovative mortgage program halfway around the world will evaluate your application without any extra documentation — and if you’re approved, it will give you a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage. There’s just one catch: The mortgages are only for low-income people in Cambodia. The program is a throwback to the days when bankers got to know their customers — and trusted them. …
Keng and her husband both work. She makes and then sells rice soup at a street stall, while her husband sells clothes at another stall. But they don’t meet one of the crucial requirements for getting a mortgage: They don’t receive salary slips or other financial documents, so they don’t have what bankers call “verifiable income.” …
Late last year, Keng heard about an unusual bank called First Finance, which was designed specifically to give mortgages to low-income people like her. She and her family could already imagine the new home they wanted to buy: a two-story house with indoor plumbing. It would cost about $20,000. …
The First Finance mortgage program in Cambodia was the brainchild of Talmage Payne …
Microfinance, he says, was not the solution. People needed much bigger, long-term loans to buy homes. Payne also says he realized something else that contradicts traditional banking assumptions: Low-income families make great mortgage customers.
Just about everybody in a typical Cambodian family works. The wife might run a market stall, while the husband does day labor.
“Grandma sells peanuts, the kids work,” Payne says.
As a result, many of the families are financially resilient. If one person has to stop working, the others can chip in.
“You’re giving somebody something that they never thought they could have. So no matter what the hardship is, what’s the one bill they’re not going to miss? They’re not going to miss the mortgage,” Payne says. …
Cambodians tend to rely too heavily on self-funding or loans when starting businesses, experts say. In a bid to change that, an essay competition about business plans has been launched to give a platform for the winner to form business partnerships with those with capital.
The competition, called Biz-Startup Essay Competition, is organised by Entrepreneur Consulting, Education Development Institute, and Park Cafe. …
WITH the passing of a law on farmers’ co-operatives, the government hopes to streng-then the country’s growing agricultural sector, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech at the National Institute of Education yesterday.
“In time, I believe that economic growth will be tremendous in rural areas,” the Prime Minister said.
He said the government’s approval last Friday of a law supporting agricultural co-operatives would enhance growth in farming, as farmers – who traditionally have remained independent of one another – will now have the power to negotiate collectively. …
Commercial property prices and rents in Siem Reap have increased by 10 to 20 per cent in the last year, according to the town’s newest real estate agency.
Cambodia Properties Limited (CPL) opened its first Siem Reap branch three months ago, recognising a need for sound property valuation data in the temple town. …
The first Banking Careers Forum, organised on Friday by CamEd Business School with the support of leading banks and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), attracted hundreds of students – the majority of them studying accounting and banking – to participate and find job opportunities in the banking sector. …
Farmers in Pailin province have complained about a shortage of workers during this year’s corn and cassava harvesting season.
Meas Loeun, team leader of Momean Moy community’s 38 teams in Pailin, said the shortage of workers to help harvest corn and cassava is a major challenge for plantation owners because many workers have migrated to Thailand. …
Construction investment rises sharply Investment in construction in the Kingdom during the first nine months of this year rose 83.6 per cent, according to data from Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction last week.
The data showed that during the first nine months of this year the ministry approved 1,357 construction projects involving 5,593,284 square metres of total construction area and worth US$1.8 billion. The same period a year earlier saw 1,689 approved projects over 3,228,799 square metres of total construction area and worth $999 million. …
Although costs can be high for borrowing and it can be difficult to pay regularly every month, the trend of borrowing from banks by Cambodian people to buy property is still steadily increasing, according to experts.
Keuk Narin, vice president of Asia Real Estate Cambodia, said people are increasingly aware about using a loan from a bank to buy their house and other products, compared to last year. …
“Borrowing is good or bad, depending on individuals’ revenues and economy. Therefore, carefully considering potential revenue is very important,” said Keuk, adding that persuading customers to take out loans is part of what banks do, but if a borrower can’t pay off the debt, it will lead to trouble. …
The largest bank in Cambodia, Acleda Bank Plc, has extended its mobile banking and payments service to consumers without an existing banking relationship of any kind, according to a press release by global technology provider Fiserv.
Established in 2010, Acleda Unity now reaches untapped consumer segments using the Mobiliti Reach platform from Fiserv, enabling people without an Acleda bank account to have access to banking services. …
Acleda Unity users can transfer money by sending a text message and with a pin code the receiver can either pick up the cash from an ATM or go to a counter to get the money. …
Profits at Cambodia’s largest banks continued to grow through the first nine months of the year as loan disbursals across the sector increased by about 30 percent compared to the same period in 2011, bankers said yesterday.
Acleda Bank, the largest bank in the country, this week posted net profits of $48.49 million during the first nine months of 2012, a rise of 48.38 percent year-on-year. Total deposits reached $1.32 billion, an increase of 25.8 percent over the same period. …
Although banks say the speed at which credit is expanding in the market is due to strong economic growth in the country, economists warn the banking sector must be careful it does not overheat. …
Cambodia rose five places to rank 133rd out of 185 countries in the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report released yesterday, with the bank attributing the rise for the most part to the successful launch of the country’s credit bureau.
Compared to other countries in the region, Cambodia lagged behind Vietnam and Thailand, which finished in 99th and 18th positions respectively, but finished ahead of Laos, which was in 163rd place. Singapore finished in first place.
The report ranks countries in 10 categories that measure the ease of doing business, and Cambodia leaped 45 spots to number 53 in the world in the category measuring access to credit. The World Bank said that since March, acquiring a loan has become easier, as banks are able to access the credit histories of 1.1 million individual borrowers. ..
Peter Brimble, senior economist at the Asian Development Bank, said that the report does not necessarily reflect the actual levels of progress made in the business environment. …
The Asia Development Bank‘s Cambodia Resident Mission has appointed Eric Sidgwick as its new country director. Sidgwick aims to focus his efforts on promoting an inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth, said a press release issued by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) yesterday.
Sidgwick started working at the ADB in 2007 as the senior country economist in Cambodia. In 2010 he was appointed the principal economist for regional cooperation in the ADB’s Southeast Asia Department.
In this new role Sidgwick will ensure effective support for programs aimed at developing five priority sectors: transport, water supply, sanitation and urban development, agriculture and natural resources, education and finance – with the goal of fostering inclusive economic growth and social development.
Citibank, one of the largest banks in the US, showed stronger interest in Cambodia yesterday when the Bangkok-based Thailand head of the big international bank met with Economy and Finance Minister Kheat Chhon. …
Mey Vann said Citibank recognized that Cambodia had a good investment climate and incentives for foreign direct investment. …
“They are looking for Cambodia to be the strategic central area for their business expansion in Southeast Asia.
“Citibank is also willing to help Cambodia attract more investors.” …
Citibank, one of the largest banks in the United States and the World, is seeking for investment opportunities in Cambodia, a bank senior official said Tuesday.
During a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Cambodian Keat Chhon on Tuesday afternoon, Darren Buckley, country head of the Citibank in Bangkok, expressed the bank’s interest to invest in Cambodia and urged the country to issue ” sovereign bonds”, Mey Vann, head of the Finance Ministry’s financial industry department, told reporters after the meeting…
