via CAAI
Monday, 06 September 2010 07:58 DAP NEWS / VIBOL
CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, SEPTEMBER 6, 2010-Cambodian government in cooperation with the development partners on Monday conducted a national microfinance development forum on revising and deepening the roles of MFIs in poverty reduction.
Today’s forum is to discuss, understand and share invaluable experiences pertaining to the review on the roles of microfinance institutions in poverty alleviation, the government’s supports and future directions, Neav Chanthana, deputy governor of the national bank of Cambodia (NBC). She added that forum will reflect great government’s support, and it has been strongly supportive in providing priorities and significances to the development of microfinance sector in Cambodia.
It serves a contributing factor to the government’s poverty reduction policy, she noted, adding that “I do hope there will be an extensive discussion and exchange of experiences on this topic in an attempt to come up with any invaluable strategy for the development of the microfinance sector,”.
“The forum will also serve as an encouragement to the rural credit and finance operators to become microfinance institutions under regulatory framework of the national bank of Cambodia in order to ensure transparency and growth as well as to protect the benefits of the economically working poor,” she stresses.
She continued that the NBC will go on, by all means, promoting and encouraging all non- governmental organizations operating in the rural financial sector to transform to micro financial institutions licensed by the NBC.
The transformation provides a number of benefits such as the ability to receive additional funds and investment opportunity from the both foreign and domestic investors, a more variety of services offering to the clients, the ability to enhance effectiveness and financial outcomes, the quality of customers and the ability to clearly distinguish between microfinance services and other development activities of the non-governmental organizations which will further encourage transparency and accountability.
She added that achievements of microfinance sector, in the forms of a increase in the number of microfinance institutions, loan portfolio number of clients and variety of products, have enables the rural citizens to use the funds from the microfinance institutions to create employments in the area of small and medium enterprises, agriculture sector and especially in dealing with families ‘emergencies.
She said that as of the first semester of 2010, the microfinance in Cambodia totally consist of 21 licensed institutions of which 4 were licensed for public deposit taking and 27 rural credit operators registered with the NBC. As the same time, the loan outstanding of almost 330 million US dollars was provided by the microfinance institutions to 889,136 borrowers, an increase of 27 % and 8% respectively comparing to the end of first semester of 2009. Meanwhile, the total deposit of more than about 21 million US dollar mobilized from 117,781 depositors, illustrating a respective increase of 236 % and 10.5 % respectively. In addition, the total number of the commune-base microfinance institutions reached 8,121 offices. The number of women receiving loan services from microfinance institutions was 721, 755 people, which was about 81% of total borrowers.
She also thanked to Mr. Won –Sik Noh, general secretary of APRACA, Asia and Pacific Rural and Agriculture Credit Association that attended the event. Apraca is outstanding agencies to contribute reduce poverty in most countries in Asia. She also thanked Son Koun Thor, chairman and CEO of the rural development bank that played a key role for helping local people and buy the local products like rice for exporting. It also helped local farmers, she noted.
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