• Economics

Banks Name the Top Borrowers

• By Ou Sokmean
• March 30, 2023 10:14 AM

PHNOM PENH – Residents in Phnom Penh, Kandal, Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey are the top-ranking borrowers from banks and microfinance institutions.

The 185 banks and financial institutions that are members of the Credit Bureau of Cambodia (CBC) provided loans to 4.8 million people nationwide last year, according to the CBC Annual Credit Report released on March 21.

They provided 195,439,234 million riels ($48 billion) across the country.

Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kandal and Banteay Meanchey hold 60 percent of the loans, based on data provided by CBC in 2022.

The report says Phnom Penh ranks first with 617,000 loans from banks and microfinance institutions in the amount of 81,681,606 riels ($20 billion), equivalent to 42 percent of the national credit balance.

Second place was Kandal province, with 374,000 loans from banks and microfinance institutions accounting for 11,495,860 million riel (approximately $2.8 billion), which is equivalent to 5.9 percent of the national loan balance.

Third was Siem Reap, where 31.6000 people borrowed money in the amount of 10,454,567 million riels (approximately $2.5 billion), which accounts for 5.3 percent of the national loan balance.

Banteay Meanchey was fourth with  218,000 people borrowing a total of 10,048,508 million riels ($2.4 billion), equivalent to 5.1 percent of the country's total loan balance.

Provinces with the lowest loan accounts, below one billion riel ($250,000), were Mondulkiri, Pailin and Kep.

According to the CBC, about 76 percent of the 4.8 million customers nationwide borrow money from just one institution and about 19 percent borrow from two. The rest borrow from three institutions.

 

Originally written in Khmer for ThmeyThmey, this story was translated by Te Chhaysinh for Cambodianess