Financial Inclusion Contributes to Sustaining Economic Growth and Reduce Poverty: NBC
Phnom Penh, November 30, 2023 --
Financial inclusion has been playing a crucial role in sustaining economic growth and reducing country inequality and poverty in Cambodia, thanks to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2019-2025 (NFIS) and efforts by the central bank with coordination from financial services providers, a senior official of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said.
H.E .Yim Leat, NBC Deputy Governor, made the remark at the UNESCAP Community of Practice Study Visit Programme on "Financial Inclusion" held at Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel, on Nov. 29, attended by delegates and colleagues from Colombia, Fiji, Malaysia, Bhutan, and Nepal.
The National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2019-2025 (NFIS) had been formulated to determine clear priority activities and action plans to increase access to and usage of quality formal financial services from unserved or underserved populations.
“Over years of NFIS implementation, Cambodian financial inclusion landscape has significantly improved. These achievements were consequences from efforts made by NBC with the coordination from associations, financial services providers and other relevant stakeholders which have continuously involved in accelerating financial inclusion and consumer protection in Cambodia,” he said.
To promote financial and digital financial literacy, NBC, with the cooperation from various relevant stakeholders, has been implementing many financial literacy and financial inclusion programmes such as, the integration of financial subject into national curriculum, the enhancement of women's financial literacy and digital literacy, catalysing of women entrepreneurship (under ESCAP's project).
NBC has been always supportive in financial services diversification and innovation to expand usage of financial services to underserved and unserved populations.
NBC has developed various payment infrastructures such as National Clearing System, FAST payment, Retail Pay, Cambodian Shared Switch, and Bakong system etc.
“This enables interconnectivity in payment industry that allows users to conduct payment transactions across different payment service providers, payment schemes, and e-wallets. The KHQR is not only widely used for retail payment in Cambodia, but it allows the NBC to develop cross-border payment system within other countries,” he said.
KHQR is a universal quick response (QR) code system created for retail payments in Cambodia. It only requires a single QR for receiving payment from any mobile app including the Bakong app.
According to the NBC, there were a total of 19.5 million e-wallet accounts in 2022, up from 13.6 million in the year before.
The country recorded 1 billion online payment transactions with a total amount of US$272.8 billion last year, the NBC said.
