Economy & Banking: Cambodia encourages Riel usage with new bank account policy

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and the Ministry of Commerce have jointly announced a significant step towards promoting the use of the Cambodian Riel by encouraging businesses to register new bank accounts in Cambodian Riel (KHR).

The initiative is aimed to strengthen the implementation of the law on commercial enterprises and to promote the use of Riel in business. All banking and financial institutions are requested to cooperate in facilitating the establishment of bank accounts in KHR for all registered businesses, it read.

The statement underlined the important of using KHR, stressing that the wide use of Riel will help Cambodia become sovereign and independent in implementing macroeconomic policies, especially the monetary policy which can help boost investment and domestic consumption by reducing or increasing market interest rates and releasing liquidity into the economy.

Dollarisation, the widespread use of U.S. currency as legal tender, has been a persistent challenge for Cambodia since 1993, the time when huge amounts of U.S. banknotes were introduced in the Kingdom.

The Ministry of Commerce has been actively involved with the NBC in promoting the use of Riel such as the requirement in labelling price tags of products in Riel.

The digital payment of ‘Riel currency’ through the Bakong system touched 75.6 million transactions in the first semester of this year, an increase of 180 percent compared to the same period in 2023, an NBC’s report shows.

The transactions were equivalent to 64.9 trillion KHR, an increase of 140% compared to the first half of 2023, the report added.