Country Report Cambodia February 2011

Outlook for 2011-12: Monetary policy

The effectiveness of monetary policy will remain limited, owing to extensive dollarisation of the economy. The NBC will begin to tighten monetary policy in 2011, but the authorities do not appear to be in a rush to raise the banking sector's reserve requirement, which currently stands at 12%. Money supply growth is accelerating again, with broad money (M2) expanding by an average of 33.4% year on year in the first nine months of 2010, up from a low of 0.5% growth in February 2009. Bank lending has followed a similar pattern, with claims on the private sector rising by 13.7% year on year in January-September 2010, up from a low of 2.8% in October 2009. However, with year-on-year growth in bank lending to the private sector still far below the highs of over 100% that were recorded in early 2008, it will be some time before the reserve requirement is returned to its pre-crisis peak of 16%.

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