Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

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TWY
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Likelihood of Cambodia moving from US dollars to Riel?

Post by TWY »

It's not pegged though, it floats within a very small range (4000-4100r) to the USD, probably because the USD is so commonly used in Cambodia.
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Ok, I should have said "in essence it is pegged". By freely allowing the use of the USD the effect is the same and allows the Central bank to more easily pair the Reil with the USD with little outside resistance and removing the Central bank of the burden of holding a lot of foreign reserves and setting interest rates. Since I likely shouldn't have posted my reply in this thread in the first place, I'll leave it there.
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Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by beerlaodrinker »

Phnom Poon wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:07 am
IraHayes wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:06 am I popped to the ATM yesterday and after the first machine had no money in it I took money from the next but it only had 100's in it.
. . .
If gold sellers/buyers are not working people can't even convert gold to cash.
it's worth taking riel from atms at this point, since $100s may become difficult to change
i hear gold 'offer' prices are way down anyway

they want to switch the economy to riel
they might even be assessing the opportunity to convert $ bank balances to riel
at a government rate
Very unlikely and should not be discussed as it could cause bank runs as other posters have said. Despite being the easiest way to recharge the foreign reserves and protect the selected few, who can change to reils with advanced notice, it would cause financial instability for years to come, so I am sure the competent authorities would reject such schemes out of hand.
Its better to be holding physical dollars now in some ways, mainly because of difficulties in accessing bank branches or ATMs, but people should limit doing this so as not to destabilise the banking sector.
Its a bit like going round and buying all the rice and hoarding it - its not fair on others who get to the rice shop later, so should be discouraged.
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by Phnom Poon »

price stability will also become an issue
much easier under sovereign currency

i think requisition is 'extremely unlikely'
but less so than a month or a year ago, when it was pretty much inconceivable

.

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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by bossho »

So a Rabbi a Catholic Priest and Khmer Economist go into a bar together and order drinks. The Rabbi orders a scotch, the priest orders a red wine, now tell me what did the Khmer economist order?
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by Phnom Poon »

i see aba have increased the limits for outbound app swift transfers to $100k/day
during this difficult lockdown period

.

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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

NBC makes fresh push for riel use
Thou Vireak | Publication date 14 July 2021 | 20:47 ICT

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on July 13 invited the public to swap old or ripped riel notes for new ones of the same value free-of-charge at its branches nationwide, save for its headquarters, in an apparent initiative to promote the use of the local currency.

The banknotes will be exchanged as long as they are not damaged beyond recognition and can be confirmed to be genuine, the central bank said.

It warned, however, that it reserves the right to confiscate counterfeit and overly-damaged bills without reimbursement, in accordance with articles 51-53 of the 1996 Law on the Organisation and Conduct of the National Bank of Cambodia.

Article 51 says the NBC “may decline to exchange notes or coins if their designs are illegible, misshaped or perforated, or if more than 30 per cent of their surface has been lost. Such currency shall be withdrawn and destroyed without indemnity to the owner, except that, in special cases, the central bank may determine whole or partial compensation”.

Article 52 says “counterfeit notes included in deposits or presented for exchange shall be seized without compensation and reported to the competent authorities”.

And Article 53 adds that the NBC “shall not be required to provide any compensation for notes and coins that were lost or destroyed – it may confiscate without compensation any notes that have been altered in their external appearance, in particular notes that have been written on, painted on, overprinted, stamped or perforated, or to which adhesive matter has been applied, or which have been defaced in any other way”.

In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, the central bank encourages the public to use electronic payments and adopt hygienic practices while handling banknotes.

Prasac Microfinance Institution Ltd (Prasac) executive vice-president Say Sony told The Post that the move is meant reduce the volume of old riel banknotes in circulation and “enhance the value” of the local currency.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... h-riel-use
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by xandreu »

CEOCambodiaNews wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 1:21 am NBC makes fresh push for riel use
Thou Vireak | Publication date 14 July 2021 | 20:47 ICT

The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) on July 13 invited the public to swap old or ripped riel notes for new ones of the same value free-of-charge at its branches nationwide, save for its headquarters, in an apparent initiative to promote the use of the local currency.

The banknotes will be exchanged as long as they are not damaged beyond recognition and can be confirmed to be genuine, the central bank said.

It warned, however, that it reserves the right to confiscate counterfeit and overly-damaged bills without reimbursement, in accordance with articles 51-53 of the 1996 Law on the Organisation and Conduct of the National Bank of Cambodia.

Article 51 says the NBC “may decline to exchange notes or coins if their designs are illegible, misshaped or perforated, or if more than 30 per cent of their surface has been lost. Such currency shall be withdrawn and destroyed without indemnity to the owner, except that, in special cases, the central bank may determine whole or partial compensation”.

Article 52 says “counterfeit notes included in deposits or presented for exchange shall be seized without compensation and reported to the competent authorities”.

And Article 53 adds that the NBC “shall not be required to provide any compensation for notes and coins that were lost or destroyed – it may confiscate without compensation any notes that have been altered in their external appearance, in particular notes that have been written on, painted on, overprinted, stamped or perforated, or to which adhesive matter has been applied, or which have been defaced in any other way”.

In light of the Covid-19 outbreak, the central bank encourages the public to use electronic payments and adopt hygienic practices while handling banknotes.

Prasac Microfinance Institution Ltd (Prasac) executive vice-president Say Sony told The Post that the move is meant reduce the volume of old riel banknotes in circulation and “enhance the value” of the local currency.
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ ... h-riel-use
I wonder just how many counterfeit Riel notes there are in circulation. Not many I'm guessing. If you're going to go to the bother of counterfeiting foreign currency, surely there are better alternatives than the Cambodian Riel? Or perhaps that's the double bluff? People don't expect the Riel to be counterfeit so....

It still amazes me the amount of foreigners who are given a fist full of change in shops in Khmer Riel, who take one look at it, look at the queue behind them, decide it's simply too complicated/would take too long to check it, and throw it into their purse / wallet. I myself have been guilty of this on a number of occasions. The opportunity for short changing people (namely foreigners) at the tills must be immense.

Although to be fair, when I don't have time to check it on the spot, I will always remember where in my wallet I have put it so that I can check it at a later stage. I know there would be nothing I could do as I'd have already left the shop, but I do it just out of curiosity, and to be fair, I don't recall ever being short changed at all.

Maybe I've just been lucky or maybe Khmers really are an honest bunch. I guess the overhead till camera has it's uses also.
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by timmydownawell »

Withdrawing the $1 and $5 from circulation was successful and painless. I'm a huge fan of the 10,000r notes because they hit the sweet spot for small purchases and tuk tuks, with the latter not able to try on not having change.
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by mannanman »

I always use Riel in Cambodia. USD are a pain unless you’re filling up your car or buying a $600k condo!

Only ever got two 15k riel notes. Both at once. Never saw one again.

In Europe when they ditched their local currencies and switched to EUROs everything went up in price and eventually settled but still more expensive. I miss the Kronas, Guilders, Deutschmark, Punt and Peso. But not the Franc.
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Re: Likelihood of Cambodia moving from USD to riel?

Post by Spigzy »

mannanman wrote: Thu Jul 15, 2021 9:00 am Only ever got two 15k riel notes. Both at once. Never saw one again.
You probably should have held on to those as they were a special commemorative edition for the King's coronation anniversary - those weirdo collectors would probably give you way over the face value for a pristine one in years to come.
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