$10M loan to cut poverty or to enrich corrupt Hun Xen's officials?

ADB provides $10M loan to Cambodia to cut poverty

Microfinance Focus, Nov. 26, 2009: The Asian Development Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a $10 million loan for Cambodia’s economic reforms program. It covers costs linked to implementing reforms, and also provides the government with budgetary support to help ease the effects of the global economic downturn. The latest reforms are part of the ongoing ADB second sector program support – which began in 2007 – to assist Cambodia to further develop its financial system.

Cambodia is implementing a series of reforms designed to modernize and deepen its financial system in order to support growth, reduce poverty and make the country more resilient in the face of external shocks.

Cambodia posted real economic growth of more than 9% between 2001 and 2008, and cut overall poverty. However, external shocks, such as the global financial crisis of 2008, which has pressured garment exports, tourism and foreign investment, threaten to undermine that progress. An effective financial system that can readily mobilize finance, channel it into productive areas, including to rural areas through microfinance, and manage risks, can help mitigate the impact of external turmoil and keep growth and poverty reduction on track.

“Cambodia has taken many positive steps to develop its financial sector since the instability of the 1970’s and 1980’s, but still faces policy gaps, capacity constraints and other challenges,” said Samiuela Tukuafu, Senior Financial Sector Specialist in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “The ongoing program builds on earlier actions to improve the legal and regulatory environment, to boost sector capacity, to improve disclosure standards and financial transparency, and to build up infrastructure.”

These measures are designed to sustain the momentum of structural reforms while strengthening capacities for effective surveillance against the backdrop of knock-on effects of the global economic crisis. They include strengthening of bank supervision capacities, the upgrading of the payments and settlement system, establishment of a financial intelligence unit by National Bank of Cambodia to support efforts to combat money laundering, installation of an integrated IT system to link the core operations of the central bank, further steps to improve the microfinance sector, and the development of a commercial disputes resolution mechanism.

ADB’s loan from its concessional Asian Development Fund has a 24-year term, including a grace period of eight years, with an interest rate of 1% per year during the grace period and 1.5% for the rest of the term. The National Bank of Cambodia is the executing agency for the current program phase which runs from January 2009 to December 2009.

WB aids Cambodian poverty reduction

HANOI, Jan. 15 (PNA/VNA) -- The Cambodian government signed two grant agreements on Jan. 14, worth a total of 72.1 million USD with the World Bank and other development partners to improve the lives of its people and to reduce poverty.

The first agreement for 20 million USD supports the Demand for Good Governance Project (DFGG), which aims at improving the government's accountability and responsiveness to the needs of the public, said a press release from the WB.

The second agreement, worth 52.1 million USD, provides additional resources to the Second Health Sector Support Program (HSSP2), which is designed to help the government improve the health of the nation’s underprivileged mothers and children, it added.

The grants will provide crucial support to the Government of Cambodia's efforts to reduce poverty and ensure that the people of Cambodia enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods, WB said.

"The grant agreements that we sign today will contribute towards the fourth pillar of Cambodia's Rectangular Strategy," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

Aid Money Urged for Development

Kuoy minority community representatives, from left: Sok Heng, of Oddar Meanchey, and Ruos Han, of Kratie province

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original from Washigton
16 December 2008

The $1 billion in foreign aid promised to Cambodia earlier this month should go into the hands of the people and their communities, addressing government policies, a community leader said Monday.

“Poverty reduction is not what the government’s policy is,” said Sok Heng, a minority representative from Oddar Meanchey province, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Joined by Ruos Han, a Kuoy minority from Kratie province, Sok Heng urged the government to undertake better studies of land and forest concessions before handing them over to private businesses.

Land theft and disputes have emerged as a continuous problem in Cambodia in recent years, with minority groups especially hard hit, and both men urged the government Monday to use the foreign aid to develop communities to help alleviate it.

“Where more development occurs, that’s where people are facing difficulties,” Sok Heng said.

“Without the preservation of our natural resources, our minority community cannot survive,” Ruos Han said. Without such resources, minorities have a very difficult time surviving, because they don’t engage in typical businesses, he said.

After nearly 15 years of development, Cambodia remains heavily reliant on foreign aid for its operations, and donor countries and agencies were especially forthcoming with funding this year.

Both men said Tuesday that money does not reach its targets and is often hard to track. Money for infrastructure, schools, clinics, seed, canals and other agriculture was needed, they said.

Project to improve poor farmers’ livelihood wraps up

Friday, 20 June 2008
Touch Yuthea
The Mekong Times

A five-year project aimed at improving the livelihoods of poor farmers in southern Cambodia has had a positive impact on the economy, according to Yang Saing Koma, director of the Center for Studies and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC).

Yang Saing Koma made the conclusion Thursday in Phnom Penh at a workshop aimed at providing information about the project to government agencies and NGOs.

The project cost approximately US$1.8 million. “We have helped poor farmers from 14,200 families to improve their ability to support their families … This is a great achievement,” he said. “We have noticed that before one family could only earn around 1.4 million riel [around US$350] a year. However … people’s revenues have increased to 2.6 million riel [around US$650] a year, or an increase of around 80 percent.”

CEDAC also strengthened the capacity of farmers to transport their products to markets and to collect revenues for the future expansion of their businesses in communities of 192 targeted villages CEDAC was working on, he said.

The project offered agricultural services and resources through direct support from NGOs, an unidentified ADB representative said. “The project also emphasized the participation of rural women in income-generating activities.”

The project took place in five targeted provinces – Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng, Kampong Chhnang and Takeo. “If such a project is expanded to other provinces, it will be able to further improve more rural people’s living standard through incomes [they earn] and reduce the gap between the rich and the poor,” Ith Nody, undersecretary of state of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said at the workshop.

The project was a joint project between Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and CEDAC. It was financially supported by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction through Asian Development Bank.

Farmer Poverty Reduction Reviewed

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 June 2008

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and other government offices met Thursday to discuss the progress of an Asian Development Bank grant aimed at raising Cambodian farmers out of poverty.

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, a $1.8 million, five-year program financed by the Japanese government, seeks to give farmers more access to technology, infrastructure and other agricultural resources.

The program targeted impoverished farmers in five provinces in southern Cambodia.

Farmers from 14,200 families have seen changes in their living conditions thanks to the program, said Yong San Koma, president of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture.

"Among those families, about 80 percent earned from 1.4 million riel per year to 2.6 million riel per year," he said.

Farmers earned money by producing rice, raising chickens, pigs and vegetables for sale in local markets and joining community savings programs.

Thursday's workshop was a discussion of the results of the program, where district authorities "learned a lot," Yong San Koma said, because they were shown surprising ways that farmers increased their livelihood.

The government now has a strategy to work with farmers to help them bring their goods to market, Yong San Koma said. The money they earned is recycled into the community, he said. Such earnings will reduce the government's dependence on donor countries.

The organization is planning courses for the younger generation of farmers to pass on their knowledge to others, he said.

WB helps Cambodia fight poverty by improving road access

PHNOM PENH, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank have signed agreements with Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance to help the country materialize two projects, namely Road Asset Management and Land Allocation for Social and Economic Development, said a WB release Friday.

Cambodia will be provided with 41.5 million U.S. dollars in credit and grants to carry out the projects, which aim at fighting poverty by improving road access and enabling poor and landless people to gain livelihood, it said.

"We recognize our responsibility to utilize these credits and grant in an efficient, accountable and transparent manner and to ensure that the benefits will flow to the people of Cambodia," said Keat Chhon, Minister of Economy and Finance.

WB Country Director Ian Porter said that "our Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) places a lot of emphasis on WB supporting the development of infrastructure and sustainable natural resource management to benefit rural communities."

Under the first project, the bank is well positioned to continue its support together with other development partners for a more comprehensive approach to road asset management capacity, with a strong focus on ensuring adequate maintenance of road infrastructure.

Under the second project, WB will also be working with the government and other partners to ensure local communities, particularly poor, landless and land-poor people, benefit from improved land management, including land access and tenure security.

World Bank Grants $41 Million for Poverty Plans

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
22 May 2008

The World Bank announced Thursday it would provide Cambodia $41.5 million in renewed funding to help it fight poverty for strategies planned from 2007 to 2011.

The funding was approved after a review found a relevance for the strategies in improving governance and development, the World Bank said.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Chiem Yeap, chairman of the National Assembly’s finance and banking committee, welcomed the World Bank money, saying Cambodia needs a larger budget to fight poverty.

Cambodia’s poor number almost 4.8 million, and 90 percent of them live in rural areas, where they depend on agriculture using traditional, unproductive methods.

In June 2006 the World Bank suspended the government’s rights to funds for three project.

Growing Economy Has Faults: UN Agency

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
08 April 2008

Strong exports in garments have continued to support a high economic growth rate, but Cambodia's reliance on garment manufacturing is a "key concern," a UN economic group said Tuesday.

In an annual report on the region, the UN Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific found Cambodia maintained one of the fastest growing economies in the region, but the "narrow export base" from garments made it vulnerable.

Growth in the agricultural sector is necessary for Cambodia to reduce poverty, the group said.

UN resident coordinator Suomi Sakai called the link between agriculture and poverty reduction "fundamental."

The government must find a balance between producers, who want high prices, and consumers, who don't, said Hang Chhuan Narong, secretary-general at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The government must also balance high growth rates with high inflation pressure, he said, adding that the government would also continue a "reform program" to increase agricultural productivity.

Hun Sen: Agriculture Key to Reducing Poverty

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
04 April 2008

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday told officials at the Ministry of Agriculture that growth in their traditional sector was the key to raising millions of Cambodians out of poverty.

"Agricultural development is a main point to reduce poverty in Cambodia, and I expect this year Cambodia will have only 30 percent under the poverty line," Hun Sen said, speaking at a closing ceremony of an annual agricultural conference in Phnom Penh.

Ministry officials and economists said Friday the sector was important for poverty reduction.

The government should work to promote agriculture to improve Cambodia's economy, one economist said, but it should not rely completely on one sector.

In 2007 economic earnings from rice paddy grew 50.8 percent and for other crops between 4 percent and 8 percent, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said Friday.

But while agriculture has the potential to reduce Cambodian poverty, said Kang Chandararath, an economist and director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Studies, the government must ensure enough land for people to grow crops.

PMs of 6 GMS countries to attend summit in Laos

PHNOM PENH, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Prime ministers of the six countries sharing the Mekong River will convene in Vientiane, Laos, on March 31 for the Third Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Summit, said a press release from the Asia Development Bank (ADB) to Cambodia here on Sunday.

The Summit aims to enhance development, economic cooperation among the Mekong countries, including Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, through greater infrastructure connectivity, trade and transport facilitation, private investment, environmental management, and other measures, it said.

Leaders will discuss coordinated actions to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development for all the countries and people of the GMS by enhancing connectivity and competitiveness, and promoting an increased sense of community, it added.

ADB defines an area of 811,000 square km along the Mekong Riveras GMS. The bank is also responsible for coordinating development issues of the six countries related to the river through various GMS meetings.

The key to poverty reduction: Agriculture

Friday, February 1, 2008
By Ky Soklim
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

During the presentation of a report on development and agriculture, the stress was put on the importance to develop this sector in order to help the country get out of poverty.

The 2008 world report on the development was presented on Thursday 31 January in Phnom Penh. The working session brought together the ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery led by Chan Sarun, as well as Derek Byerlee and Maria Paula Savanti, the authors of the report. The work stresses on the link between agriculture and development.

Cambodia bets a lot the agriculture sector. “The policy of our government is such that it helps the economic growth and contributes to the reduction of poverty,” Chan Sarun explained. In fact, if during the course of the last decade, the rate of poverty decreases thanks to an average yearly growth of 7.8%, this decrease was not equal throughout the country. Cities saw a poverty decrease of 16% in terms on number of people living with less than one dollar per day – this decrease reaches 23% in Phnom Penh – however, in rural areas, the decrease of poverty is only 9.5%.

Hang Chourn Naronn, the secretary-general of the ministry of Economy and Finance, believes that the development of agriculture is essential: “It must be a necessary element in the strategy to reduce poverty. In the province, people depend a lot on it: on average, 63% of their income comes from the [agriculture] sector.”

80% of Cambodians live on agriculture. In 2007, this sector represents 26.8% of the GDP of the kingdom. According to the World Bank, its growth rate must stabilize around 4% to yield a general growth of 7%, in order to abide by the millennium objectives set for poverty reduction.

Japan and ADB help Tonle Sap communities participate in development

12.20.07

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) are helping raise the capability of communities in the most impoverished region in Cambodia to participate in an ongoing development initiative in the area.

ADB said the Japan fund for poverty reduction will provide a 1.5 mln usd grant for the 'Building community capacity for poverty reduction initiatives' in the Tonle Sap Basin.

ADB will manage the funding.

The project will support training, demonstration and knowledge sharing with the community leaders, organizations and concerned government staff so that they can participate effectively in the poverty reduction efforts under the Tonle Sap Initiative.

The initiative relies heavily on community participation and community-driven development. However, poor communities around the Tonle Sap Lake generally have weak organizations and have little experience in participating in such an initiative.

'Building the capacity of the communities through the proposed grant will be crucial to accelerate poverty reduction in the Tonle Sap Basin,' director of ADB's aoutheast Asia department, Urooj Malik said.

The successful implementation of the project should lead to a community consensus on participation and decision-making on poverty reduction. It should also encourage community organizations to develop and implement poverty reduction action plans. Knowledge of and lessons from poverty reduction interventions should also be properly disseminated to beneficiaries.

TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com

$100 mln of yearly Japanese loan to reduce poverty or to fatten the pockets of corrupt gov't officials?

Japan promises $100 mln of concession loan for Cambodia to reduce poverty

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government has pledged to provide 100 million U.S. dollars of concession loan each year for Cambodia to facilitate its poverty reduction efforts, said Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Thursday.

The loan will be increased by one third on annual basis and the interest rate will keep as low as 0.01 percent, he told the construction ceremony of counter-flood facilities on the Tonle SapRiver bank in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia will pay it back in 40 years, he said, without giving other technical details of the loan.

"I urge the Cambodian government officials and the Japanese experts here to quickly take the loan to help and develop the poverty reduction projects," he added.

The loan deal was reached by both parties while Hun Sen paid his recent visit to Singapore to attend the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asia Nations) meetings.

International institutions have put the poverty rate of the kingdom at 35 percent.

ADB, China to help Greater Mekong Subregion assess poverty-reduction projects

11.13.07

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it will manage a 500,000 usd technical assistance grant (TA) funded by China to help countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) develop results-based monitoring and evaluation systems used in assessing efforts to reduce poverty.

The grant will be used to assist Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Vietnam enhance skills, resources and systems for results-based monitoring and evaluation, the ADB said, adding funding is expected to be completed in October 2009.

The technical assistance grant will be used to raise proficiency in monitoring and evaluation, conduct research on evaluation capacity development and increase knowledge sharing, the agency added.

Olivier Serrat, senior evaluation specialist (knowledge management) said: 'GMS countries have recognized the shortcomings of their monitoring systems. The 14th GMS ministerial meeting held in Manila in June 2007 resolved to address this. The TA will provide related knowledge products and services.'

Japanese loan for poverty reduction ... or for gov't officials enrichment?

Japan Hands Over $8 Million Loan for Poverty Reduction

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 October 2007

Japan gave Cambodia $8 million to support poverty reduction, in a ceremony presided over by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Japanese Ambassador Katsuhiro Shinohara.

The low-interest rate loan was important to Cambodia's political strategy, Hor Namhong said. Japan, the World Bank and developed countries were "partners" helping Cambodia, he said.

In Cambodia's strategy to reduce poverty, "good governance is the key," he added.

WB donates 70 mln USD for three development projects in Cambodia

September 06, 2007

The World Bank (WB) has signed agreements with the Cambodian government to grant the kingdom 70 million U.S. dollars of aid to support three development projects, local media said on Thursday.

Among the money, 18.5 million U.S. dollars will go for an energy project along the Mekong River, 15 million U.S. dollars for a poverty reduction project, and the rest for a rural investment and local governance project, Cambodian-language newspaper the Koh Santhepheab quoted Nisha Agrawal, WB's country director, as saying.

The WB is among the country's major donor institutions.

Around half of the Cambodian government's annual budget, some 600 million dollars, used to be met by donor countries and institutions.

Source: Xinhua

WB aid grant: Is it really to reduce poverty or fatten the rich government officials?

World Bank Gives $15 Million Aid Grant

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 July 2007

The World Bank has promised $15 million in poverty reduction and development grants that will focus on good governance.

"Firstly, we foresee higher rates of growth and poverty reduction through an improved investment climate, higher agricultural productivity and more effective public service delivery," World Bank Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Jim Adams said in a statement. "Secondly, a reform dialogue with Government that's focused on governance and results, and thirdly, greater alignment of development partner policies and financial support."

Finance Minister Keat Chhon said in a statement the country's poverty reduction strategies had led to "substantial" improvements in Cambodia's economy.

Cambodia's economy has seen rapid growth rates in recent years, while fewer now live below the poverty line, the World Bank said.

Other economists, however, have cautioned that increased growth rates don't always translate into prosperity for Cambodia's poor. The higher economic growth rate, in reality, has meant a widening gap between the rich and poor, they warn.