NBC promotes riel use through workshops
NBC promotes riel use through workshops
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has intensified its efforts to curb dollarization in the country by organising workshops across various provinces.
Through the workshops, the central bank has been urging the public to embrace the local currency and adopt digital payment methods to boost riel circulation.
By promoting riel use and digital financial inclusion, the NBC aims to strengthen the domestic economy and reduce reliance on the US dollar.
At a workshop on Tuesday in Prey Veng province, NBC Deputy Governor Yim Leat emphasized the importance of using riel in daily transactions and encouraged the public to leverage the Bakong platform for digital payments.
“I urge ministries, institutions, factories, companies, enterprises, banking and financial institutions, especially the general public, to continue to contribute to the use of riel in their operations, such as through payment, labelling price on goods and saving in riel as well as providing more favourable conditions for the use of the riel,” Leat said.
According to NBC, dollarization in Cambodia currently accounts for about 85 percent of the economy.
Dollarization, the widespread use of a US currency as legal tender, has been a persistent challenge for Cambodia since 1993, the time huge amounts of US banknotes were introduced in Cambodia.
To address this issue, the NBC has been implementing various initiatives to promote riel use, including financial literacy campaigns, expanding access to banking services, and developing the domestic payment ecosystem.
The riel has been stabilized at a rate between about 4,050 riel against one US dollar for the last two decades, he said.
According to a survey by NBC, conducted in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2017, riel is gaining more trust, especially for daily use in rural areas.
