PHNOM PENH, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), or central bank, on Monday put a ceiling on the interest rates of microfinance institution loans in a bid to prevent the lenders from charging high interest rates.
In its press statement, the central bank ordered microfinance institutions and credit operators to charge the maximum interest rate of 18 percent per annum from their clients, starting from April 1, 2017.
The measure "is aimed at protecting the interest of people, especially poor ones, and preventing them from falling into deep debts, as well as curbing microfinance institutions and credit operators from charging a very high interest rate from their customers," the statement said.
Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page on Monday that currently, the microfinance institutions and credit operators offer loans to customers with the interest rates of between 20 percent and 30 percent per annum.
He expressed his strong belief that people, particularly the poor ones, would make use of the interest rate cap and urged them to use loans efficiently.
Besides commercial banks and specialized banks, Cambodia has 73 microfinance institutions and 170 rural credit operators, according to the NBC. The microfinance institutions and credit operators had lent a total of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars to more than 2 million customers by 2016.
