Debt in Cambodia

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) regulates banking and many formal credit activities. The Credit Bureau Cambodia (CBC) records credit histories. Before borrowing, check that the lender is licensed, review the CBC record, compare the full repayment obligation and confirm the legal status of any collateral. NBC lending guidelines address multiple borrowing and over-indebtedness. Loan contracts use a standard mandatory form for amounts up to US$50,000, standard terms with the lender's own form for amounts above US$50,000 up to US$100,000, and the lender's own form for amounts above US$100,000. The 18% annual interest ceiling applies to covered microfinance institutions and rural credit institutions. It does not automatically apply to every lender or every charge. No lender is automatically required to approve a loan or cancel a borrower's debt. Cambodian household debt indicators show why the total repayment burden matters. In the 2021 Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey, average outstanding household debt was KHR21.3 million against average income of KHR27.9 million. The average debt-to-income ratio was 76.4%, and the average debt-service-to-income ratio was 46.5%. The debt-to-income ratio reached 48.4% in 2019/20. Average maturity was 27 months. The reported average formal interest rate was 18% per year, while a 2009 measure for informal borrowing was 34.8%. Loans used for productive activities represented 30% of household borrowing in 2021, compared with 42.6% in 2012. These are survey indicators, not an individual affordability decision, and no newer comparable CSES household-debt series was identified in the reviewed official sources. Formal credit is available nationwide, including through rural credit institutions. Informal borrowing from relatives, friends, traders, moneylenders and unlicensed digital lenders remains fragmented. Cambodia has no evidenced universal household debt-relief or debt-counselling scheme. Informal and unlicensed lending can therefore involve different protections, documentation and complaint options from regulated credit. A borrower should keep the signed contract, repayment schedule and every receipt. Full early repayment can be followed by a request for collateral release and correction of the CBC record. If temporary financial difficulty makes the agreed payment unaffordable, the borrower can ask the lender for loan restructuring under the NBC circular issued in August 2024. A lender may adjust the term or payment arrangement, but restructuring does not automatically waive principal. No current blanket moratorium or universal relief program was evidenced. NBC compliance inspections concerning these practices took place in September 2024. A non-performing loan, often abbreviated as NPL, is a loan that has fallen into serious repayment difficulty under the applicable classification rules. Arrears can affect the CBC credit history and increase the risk to pledged property. Contract terms and applicable law determine notices, late charges, collateral sale and court enforcement; Cambodia has no single universal collection procedure or fee schedule for every debt. Interest, fees and penalties are therefore contract-specific, subject to applicable legal limits. No universal fee rule for restructuring or nationwide debt-advice tariff was evidenced. A borrower should first complain to the lender. If the issue remains unresolved, the complaint can be submitted to an NBC hotline, headquarters or provincial branch under the Prakas on Resolution of Consumer Complaints. NBC reported 26 hotlines in 2024. Recurring complaints include early repayment, withdrawal of collateral, correction of CBC information, penalty waivers, informal loans and digital fraud. The consumer-protection framework for non-bank financial services remains incomplete, and protection or complaint handling for an unlicensed lender may be uncertain. Cambodia's Law on Insolvency 2007 provides a court-led process involving a court, an administrator and a creditors' meeting. It can apply to a natural person, partnership or company. After an insolvency case opens, the debtor must disclose the estate and creditors within 14 days and cooperate with the process. The court-led process can use a compromise plan or liquidation. Secured claims rank before unsecured claims. Liquidation can last up to six months, with a court extension of up to six more months. After liquidation, a natural person may apply for release from eligible unpaid claims, but statutory grounds can defeat the application. Insolvency does not automatically discharge every consumer debt, and the Khmer version of the law controls if an English translation differs. After full repayment, request written confirmation, release of collateral and correction of any inaccurate CBC entry. An insolvency release is conditional, so residual claims can remain. Court, administrator and liquidation costs may also arise. Public debt is separate from household and private borrowing. External public debt was about US$11.2 billion, or 26% of GDP, at the end of 2023; about 64% was bilateral debt, with more than half owed to China. The assessed risk of public and publicly guaranteed debt distress was low. The baseline projection placed that debt near 30% of GDP in 2034, while domestic public debt was negligible and projected below 10% of GDP through 2034. These figures describe government obligations, not an individual household's ability to repay. At the wider financial-system level, private credit was 126.8% of GDP in mid-2024. Banking-sector NPLs were 6.8% and microfinance-sector NPLs were 8.3% at that time; NBC's 2025 figures reported an NPL ratio of 8.3% and a net NPL ratio of 2.7%. These indicators do not measure household default prevalence directly. Household-employer activities accounted for 9.1% of 2025 NPLs.