To be down, out and in debt in Cambodia.
Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:01 pm
Image: AFP forum
The transition from a subsistence to consumer economy has resulted in rising household debts, growing inequality and waves of outward migration
By David Hutt Phnom Penh
September 14, 2018
Cambodia’s total household debt stood at US$2.9 billion in April 2018, compared to US$2.35 billion the same month last year,...A decade ago, when Cambodia was still largely a subsistence economy, total household debt was only US$200 million
The lowest quintile, in comparison, had just 2.8% of the total disposable income, and 9% of consumption. The bottom 60% of earners only accounted for 26.6% of national disposable income, the survey showed.
In southeastern Kandal province, for instance, workers are known to agree to transfer their debts to banks or MFIs to the owners of the brick factories where they work....Workers often bring their family members to also labor at the factories, where they effectively serve as human collateral for the debts they owe and can rarely pay off..
“The nexus between microfinance debt, migration and trafficking in persons is not currently well documented or explored in research literature but warrants further attention...
Full article http://www.atimes.com/article/hun-sens- ... s-release/“This displaces landless farmers forcing them to migrate illegally, mostly to Thailand, in search for jobs. This in turn affects the social safety net – the family system, education of children, health and security,” she says.