Phnom Pen (VNA) – Cambodia’s banking and financial institutions have restructured 22.2 trillion riel (5.5 billion USD) in loans for 367,239 borrowers in the first half of this year, to ease the burden of the people as the ongoing coronavirus outbreak dampens economic activities, according to the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).
Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) Communications Department director Kaing Tongngy was quoted by local media as saying that the CMA’s 114 financial institution members – including four banks – had restructured more than 1.664 billion USD in loans for 348,094 clients as of July 11.
At the beginning of the year, the number of loan restructuring applications were fewer than 1,000 per week, but that figure jumped sharply after the third coronavirus outbreak – dubbed the “February 20 community event” marking the date it was first detected – peaking in April-May at around 20,000, before easing back over subsequent months to about 2,000 in the last week, he said.
Credit restructuring has eased the cash burden and repayment terms of the affected customers – severely and moderately – helping them to keep running their businesses as usual, he said, adding that monthly payments are less than previous amounts, or have been completely suspended for a while, and do not affect Credit Bureau of Cambodia credit histories.
In most cases, customers choose to pay only interest for three to six months, extend credit periods, or in extreme cases, suspend both interest and principal for three to six months, Tongngy said.
According to the NBC report, financial institutions in Cambodia restructured some 4.2 billion USD in loans for 285,074 borrowers as of December 31 since the NBC on March 27, 2020 issued a circular on loan restructuring during COVID-19, to ease the burden on creditors in four priority sectors flagged as the most severely-hit by the pandemic – tourism, garments, construction, and transport and logistics.
A statement released by the NBC on July 28 showed that Cambodia’s banking sectors still grew 18 percent in property value despite COVID-19./.
Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA) Communications Department director Kaing Tongngy was quoted by local media as saying that the CMA’s 114 financial institution members – including four banks – had restructured more than 1.664 billion USD in loans for 348,094 clients as of July 11.
At the beginning of the year, the number of loan restructuring applications were fewer than 1,000 per week, but that figure jumped sharply after the third coronavirus outbreak – dubbed the “February 20 community event” marking the date it was first detected – peaking in April-May at around 20,000, before easing back over subsequent months to about 2,000 in the last week, he said.
Credit restructuring has eased the cash burden and repayment terms of the affected customers – severely and moderately – helping them to keep running their businesses as usual, he said, adding that monthly payments are less than previous amounts, or have been completely suspended for a while, and do not affect Credit Bureau of Cambodia credit histories.
In most cases, customers choose to pay only interest for three to six months, extend credit periods, or in extreme cases, suspend both interest and principal for three to six months, Tongngy said.
According to the NBC report, financial institutions in Cambodia restructured some 4.2 billion USD in loans for 285,074 borrowers as of December 31 since the NBC on March 27, 2020 issued a circular on loan restructuring during COVID-19, to ease the burden on creditors in four priority sectors flagged as the most severely-hit by the pandemic – tourism, garments, construction, and transport and logistics.
A statement released by the NBC on July 28 showed that Cambodia’s banking sectors still grew 18 percent in property value despite COVID-19./.
VNA
