PHNOM PENH, Feb. 14 (Xinhua): The Cambodian government on Monday announced an additional US$100 million funding for two state-owned banks to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and agriculture.
Economy and Finance Ministry's Secretary of State Ros Seilava said the two banks are the Small and Medium Enterprise Bank of Cambodia and the Agricultural and Rural Development Bank.
Each of them received an extra fund of 50 million dollars, he said.
Seilava said the additional fund was approved after the government launched the Strategic Framework and Programs for Economic Recovery in the Context of Living with COVID-19 in a New Normal 2021-2023 in December last year.
"The additional fund aims to provide further support for SMEs, agriculture, rice industry, animal raising, and agro-industry sector," he said at the announcing ceremony held online.
"It will help restore socio-economic activities, especially in SMEs, agro-industry and other priority sectors, during the post-pandemic era," he added.
Economy and Finance Minister Aun Pornmoniroth said last week that the success of the national vaccination campaign in controlling the spread of COVID-19 has allowed the country to fully resume its socio-economic activities in all areas.
He said the kingdom's economy is predicted to grow at a higher rate of around 5.6 percent in 2022 from 3 percent last year, buoyed by the expected rises in global demand and foreign investors' confidence.
Meanwhile, Cambodia's Ministry of Health on Monday (Feb 14) reported 512 new Covid-19 cases, 16 of which were imported and all were confirmed to be the Omicron variant.
The ministry also reported 156 recoveries and no new deaths.
As of February 14, Cambodia had recorded a total of 123,955 Covid-19 cases with 118,960 recoveries and 3,015 fatalities. - Xinhua
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