IMF cancels $82 mln of debt for Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has canceled 82 million U.S. dollars of debt owed by Cambodia, a senior official said here Monday.

The debt cancellation is for the National Bank of Cambodia, because "we have worked with good results and our achievements are great," said Keat Chhon, Minister of Finance and Economy, at a workshop on national budget preparation for 2008.

IMF has the principle of deleting debt for the national banks of some countries like Cambodia, he said.

"IMF wants to encourage us to work better, so it omitted our debt," he added.

Since the 1990s, Cambodia has borrowed money from IMF to strengthen its financial balance.

Half budget of the kingdom used to be met by donor countries and international institutions like IMF.

In Brief: Oil and the Poor, an Intern First, Debt Swap

News Brief, VOA Khmer
Washington
26 October 2007

Soaring oil prices are threatening the prospects of millions of the region's poor, and Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable, according to a UNDP report issued Friday. As oil prices climb, the impact on the poor may worsen, warns the report, "Overcoming Vulnerability to Rising Oil Prices." Oil prices have tripled in the last four years, and absorbing the growing price is a staggering issue for poor Southeast Asian countries, Hafiz Pasha, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and Pacific, said at the launch of the report in Bangkok. The Oil Price Vulnerability Index developed in the report ranks countries in terms of their economic strength and extent to which growth depends on imported oil. Countries ranked most vulnerable were Cambodia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Between 2002 and 2005, the UNDP found an average household paid 74 percent more for energy needs. This included 171 percent more for cooking fuels; 120 percent more for transportation; 67 percent more for electricity; and 55 percent more for lighting fuels.

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Third-year journalism student Chhor Yi Eung finished a three-month internship Friday at the office of Dr. Horst Posdorf, a German member of the European Parliament, becoming the first Cambodian to complete such an assignment within the European Parliament. Chhor Yi Eung, 23, also worked in the governing body's press department, where she was tasked with studying European Parliament by attending meetings, public hearings and writing articles and reports. The program was made possible by a partnership between the Department of Media and Communications of the Royal University of Phnom Penh and the German aid agency the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation.

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Outgoing Polish Ambassador Habil Ryszard Olszewski announced Friday Poland plans to erase Cambodia's foreign debt, on the condition the money be used to preserve Angkor Wat. Poland will also continue to back Cambodia for a place on the non-permanent committee of the UN Security Council, a Polish embassy consul said. The spokesman declined to disclose the total amount of Cambodia's debt to Poland, but government statistics put Poland's contribution for 2006 alone at around $10 million. Poland also donated armored personnel carriers to Cambodia in 1995. The countries first established diplomatic relations more than 50 years ago, and Poland was the first to answer the call of Cambodia's newly installed Vietnamese-backed government in 1979 to assist in preserving the Angkor Wat temple complex.

Poland wipes Cambodian debt, how about Vietnam, the so-called close ally of Cambodia, can it do the same?

Poland wipes Cambodian debt, backs it for UN Security Council

Oct 25, 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - Outgoing Polish ambassador to Cambodia Habil Ryszard Olszewski has announced Poland will wipe Cambodia's foreign debt on the condition the money is instead used to preserve the ancient Angkor Wat temples, an embassy spokesman said Thursday.

Poland will also continue to back Cambodia for a place on the non-permanent committee of the UN Security Council, the Phnom Penh based Polish embassy consul said.

'Cambodia and Poland have a relationship which goes back a long way,' he said. 'Aid has been spread across the board, but education and cultural funding have been well supported by Poland.'

The spokesman declined to disclose the total amount of Cambodia's debt to Poland, but government statistics put Poland's contribution for 2006 alone at around 10 million dollars.

The World Bank website lists Polish projects in Cambodia ranging from demobilisation to irrigation projects and flood relief. Poland also donated armoured personnel carriers to Cambodia in 1995.

The countries first established diplomatic relations more than 50 years ago, and Poland was the first to answer the call of Cambodia's newly installed Vietnamese-backed government in 1979 to assist in preserving the world-famous Angkor Wat temple complex, which lies 400 kilometres north of the capital.

Aid constitutes more than 12 per cent of Cambodia's gross domestic product, according the World Bank, and the CIA factbook listed Cambodia's external debt at 3.6 billion dollars in 2006.