After PM’s call, banks rally around to support farmers
After PM’s call, banks rally around to support farmers
A week after Prime Minister Hun Manet’s call asking banks and financial institutions to provide loans to the agricultural sector with flexibility at reasonable interest rates, the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC) yesterday stepped in to extend support to small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector, particularly rice milling and exporting.
ABC Chairman Rath Sophoan said that ABC members have decided to expand lending to the SMEs in the agricultural sector, particularly in rice production and exports in 2025.
Additionally, ABC will focus on developing supply chain finance mechanisms to further enhance access to credit for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), he said.
“The Cambodian Banking Association stands ready to do more to continue and further contribute to the development of this sector and the national economy,” he said.
The Cambodian Banking Association and its members will review the priority areas identified by the government.
“Banking institutions will review and give a special priority to the economic growth sector, especially rice and exports,” he said.
The ABC move follows Prime Minister Hun Manet’s call asking all banks and financial institutions to provide loans to the agricultural sector with flexibility at reasonable interest rates to enable rice mills to collect paddy rice from farmers and keep the price of paddy stable.
To support the rice sector and stabilize market prices, the Royal Government has increased the allocation to $150 million as working capital for rice mills to purchase rice from farmers.
According to the data from the National Bank of Cambodia, as of the end of November 2024, loans to the agricultural sector amounted to more than $4.8 billion, out of a total of $56 billion in banking sector loans.
Cambodia exported 651,522 tonnes of milled rice in 2024, making a total revenue of $491 million, according to a Cambodia Rice Federation’s report.
The exported rice varieties included fragrant rice, organic rice, white rice, parboiled rice and japonica rice.
Additionally, the Kingdom also generated $1,496 million from the export of 5.1 million tonnes of paddy rice last year.
