Technical Assistance, Kingdom of Cambodia: Developing Deposit Services in Rural Cambodia

This paper discusses terms of reference of Asian Development bank (ADB) for providing technical assistance (TA) to the Government of Cambodia.The paper lists the impact and expected outcomes from the TA as:

• Reducing the vulnerability of the poor to external shocks;
• Improving financial intermediation by microfinance institutions (MFIs).

The paper presents the key activities proposed in the TA as follows:

• Developing regulatory and supervisory capacity of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC);
• Supporting MFIs for:
  • Conducting a national survey for understanding practices and potential for savings;
  • Organizing training workshops on voluntary deposit mobilization;
  • Providing assistance to licensed MFIs to introduce deposit services.
• Introducing financial literacy program for increasing awareness among rural households by supporting:
  • NBC in carrying out national awareness programs for school children to promote savings habit;
  • MFIs in carrying out national awareness campaign for rural households;
  • Cambodia Financial Institutions Network to carry out an awareness campaign among its members in the rural areas.

The paper lists the costs incurred for the program and highlights that these costs are being borne through:

• Poverty Reduction Cooperation Fund;
• Government of Cambodia.

It elucidates the following implementation arrangements:

• Establishment procedure of steering committee;
• Composition of steering committee;
• Tasks of steering committee;
• Duration of the technical assistance;
• Terms of reference for consultants.

The paper concludes with a statement of approval of the costs of ADB by the President.