Aggressive, exorbitant and misleading lending is mushrooming across social media and mobile phone services, damaging livelihoods and the country’s financial stability, the central bank and National Police said on Thursday, pledging legal action against the lenders.
Achieving a “digital transformation” in Cambodia in an equitable way will require the country to address the lack of inclusiveness in the design and development of digital products, especially for public services, writes Future Forum’s Nay Darlin.
The watchdog group within World Bank sister organization International Finance Corporation (IFC) will assess a wide swath of the Cambodian microfinance sector after accepting a complaint alleging these lenders’ practices have caused social harms, civil society groups announced today.
The government is asking property developers to show leniency toward people struggling to pay installments on their gated homes and condominiums, even as a spokesman said a separate youth-led campaign calling for suspending microfinance repayments was illegal.
The E.U. has listed Cambodia as one of 12 “high-risk” countries with deficient anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing efforts, but the government on Friday said officials were working hard to get the nation off international watch lists.
The National Bank of Cambodia said the country will likely see the economy grow again by about 7 percent this year, while noting the risks of a possible contraction of the Chinese economy, potential suspension of duty-free trade with the E.U., and high levels of debt in the property sector.
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