[PHNOM PENH POST]
Outstanding loans and deposits in 28 of Cambodia’s microfinance
institutions rose between 30 and 40 per cent year-on-year in 2011,
official data from the Cambodian Microfinance Association indicated.
The
CMA’s data showed outstanding loans rose 41.5 per cent from US$916.3
million with 1.3 million borrowers in 2011, compared to $647.8 million
with 1.22 million borrowers a year earlier.
Deposits grew by 32
per cent to $1.26 billion with 1.1 million depositors, compared to
$952.2 million with 36,776 borrowers in 2010. MFIs in the Kingdom first
began to take deposits in early 2010.
Non-performing loans (NPL)
declined from 1.3 per cent of the loan total to 0.4 per cent. Officials
and insiders said a strong macro-economy performance and clear
regulations were responsible for the shift.
National Bank of
Cambodia director general and spokeswoman Ngoun Sokha recognised the
favourable direction the economy was heading, especially in the
agricultural sector, which she believed was responsible for the rising
demand for loans.
“The government supports the agricultural
sector, especially the export of milled rice. So we promoted the
adoption of MFI loans for agriculture and actually received a lot of
growth in that area, adding up to more than 50 per cent of all loans,”
she said.
Bun Mony, director of CMA and chairman of Sathapana
Microfinance, told the Post that loan portfolios at Sathapana rose about
65 per cent to $94.6 million compared to $57 million in 2010. The
number of borrowers grew from from 43,565 to 55,001.
“There was a
high demand for loans as business activities continue to grow, and we
don’t even seem to have any problems with repayment,” he said, adding
that the NPL rate declined to from 0.93 per cent to 0.22 last year.
Sathapana
provides loans to all sectors, with 40 per cent going to retail and
small businesses, and more than 20 per cent to the agricultural sector.
The
country’s biggest MFI, Prassac Microfinance, reported that by December
2011 its gross loan portfolio was $151 million, an increase of 43.6 per
cent, with active borrowers increasing 10.9 per cent to 125,127.
“In
general, I think that the industry performed well last year because all
MFIs grew their portfolios while the NPL rate decreased,” Sim
Senacheert, president and CEO of Prassac, said.
Prassac loans to
the agricultural sector accounted for 33 per cent of its total
portfolio, with trading and service making up 47 per cent.
Hout
Ieng Tong, general director of Hattha Kaksekar Microfinance, reported
that loan portfolios rose 70 per cent to $75 million with 62,703
borrowers, from $44 million with 47,952 borrowers the year pior.
He
added that NPL declined from 0.9 to 0.07 per cent, and that
agricultural loans accounted for 35 per cent of total stocks at his
compay. Sathapana Microfinance’s total deposits rose 129.4 per cent from
$39 million to $17 million, while Hattha Kaksekar’s total deposits grew
more than 160 percent to reach $15.78 million compared with only $5
million the year before. Prassac reported smaller increases, as its
operations just began in mid-2011.
The successes are tempered,
however, by the uncertain economical fates of the EU and US, where much
of the industry gets its primary funding. “We are a bit worried,” said
Bun Mony.
“We see the EU in a crisis, and think there could be some slight impact on us, specifically regarding investments.”
Ngoun
Sokha suggested a solution, saying, “We try to teach MFIs good
governance, and to strengthen their internal capacity for
infrastructure, so that they will be able to easily seek a source of
funds domestically rather than just looking abroad.”
No comments:
Post a Comment