Cambodian banking sector enjoys growth despite COVID-19

Cambodia's banking industry enjoyed strong growth in both loans and deposits in the first half of 2021 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), the country's central bank.
Hanoi (VNA) – Cambodia's banking industry enjoyedstrong growth in both loans and deposits in the first half of 2021 despite theCOVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), thecountry's central bank.

In a report released on July 23, the bank said that outstandingloans rose by 19 percent year-on-year to 33.9 billion USD as of June this year,while customers' deposits increased by 20.8 percent to 32.7 billion USD.

The loans have been provided to key sectors such as trade,housing, construction, and manufacturing, among others, it said, adding thatNon-Performing Loan (NPL) is at a controllable rate of 2.4 percent.

In Channy, chairman of the Association of Banks in Cambodia(ABC), said despite the impact of COVID-19, Cambodia's banking sector remainshealthy and resilient.

Loan growth is not as strong as it used to be in theprevious year due to the spread of the pandemic; however, deposit growth isstill robust because customers, who have not found any new businessopportunities during the pandemic, have placed their deposits with the banks,he was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

According to Channy, Cambodia has 56commercial banks, 11 specialized banks, and six representative offices offoreign banks.

He said that more than 5 million Cambodians have formal bankaccounts as of early 2021, up from about 4 million in 2019./.
VNA

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