Cambodia

Cambodia is home to 13.8 million people with the vast majority of its population living in rural areas. According to the World Bank, Cambodia is likely to have the greatest increase in poverty of any country in Southeast Asia, much of it being caused by the global economic downturn. In addition to the global economic influences, Cambodia’s financial sector is underdeveloped making it more difficult to adequately serve the financial needs of a country with a large rural population. The majority of its rural population has almost no access to formal forms of financial services.

• 85 percent of the population live in rural areas
• 36 percent of Cambodians live in poverty

Photo credit CIA Factbook

The economic downturn has affected the growth of the microfinance sector. Hiring has slowed substantially and the number of loans is expected to increase, but at a much slower pace. It is estimated that the total demand for credit by micro and small business entrepreneurs could amount to US$ 100-125 million. Only 45 to 55 percent of this amount is provided by existing providers of financial services.

Several Grameen Foundation products are being used by the Cambodian MFI community to expand their poverty fighting efforts. Mifos, the Progress out of Poverty™ (PPI™) Index, and Village Phone programs are in their infancy. By using Mifos, (our open source software designed specifically for MFIs) Cambodian organizations will be better able to support their more client growth. And, with PPI™, they will be able to evaluate their clients and make sure they are moving out of poverty.  With Village Phone, Cambodians will have a way to connect to family and other vital resources, and to get important information on things such as crop prices to help them live a better life.