The Cambodian economy has recovered to pre-pandemic levels in several areas, but instability around the world threatens its outlook, a World Bank report said today.
Prasac Microfinance Institution claimed to the Supreme Court that a critical Facebook video was defamation against it, while the defendant claimed he was telling the truth about a bad deal.
A new NGO report on debt struggles in 14 communities — including reports of pressured land sales and threats — has been met with renewed objections from the local microfinance industry and largely a lack of response from its international development funders.
The Labor Ministry this week warned a labor leader and her union that it could be dissolved over her allegedly illegal incitement of workers to protest over a garment factory closure that left workers without contracts and compensation.
Tens of thousands of garment workers, who are facing slashed work hours and wages amid the global pandemic and economic downturn, will struggle to repay mounting microfinance debt, a new civil society report says.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said he encouraged banks and microlenders to confiscate property from any borrowers who participate in debt repayment refusal movements and purposefully fail to pay back loans.
More than half of surveyed families in a Banteay Meanchey village said the need to repay microfinance loans compelled some in their households to migrate to Thailand for work, which researchers say is part of a longtime, well-documented trend of debt-driven migration.
After the National Bank suggested lenders cut struggling borrowers a break, some financial institutions say they are relieving customers affected by Covid-19 disruptions on a case-by-case basis. But civil society groups say the measures won’t offer debt relief quickly enough.
For indebted garment workers who have been suspended from work due to coronavirus disruptions, money owed to microfinance institutions is a more immediate threat than Covid-19, leading some to consider selling assets before they’re repossessed.
Workers at a Kampong Speu shoe factory protested on Thursday, accusing the owner of suspending them from work without agreeing to pay partial salaries as companies would be required to according to Prime Minister Hun Sen.
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