ADB Approves US$10 Mln Loan To Cambodia

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The Asian Development Bank on Thursday approved a loan of US$10 million to Cambodia, to help the government ease the effects of the global slowdown and improve its financial system. The latest reforms are part of the ongoing ADB second sector program support - which began in 2007 - to assist the country in further developing its financial system.

"Cambodia has taken many positive steps to develop its financial sector since the instability of the 1970's and 1980's, but still faces policy gaps, capacity constraints and other challenges," Samiuela Tukuafu, Senior Financial Sector Specialist in ADB said.

"The ongoing program builds on earlier actions to improve the legal and regulatory environment, to boost sector capacity, to improve disclosure standards and financial transparency, and to build up infrastructure", Tukuafu added.

The ADB said the Cambodian economy grew more than 9% between 2001 and 2008, and during this time also reduced overall poverty. However, the global crisis had affected its garment export, tourism and foreign investment and threatened to slow that growth.

The loan would be for a period of 24 years, with a grace period of eight years. The interest rate would be 1% during the grace period and 1.5% during the rest of the time, the ADB said.

(Market News Provided by RTTNews)