The Kingdom’s central bank unveiled plans on Wednesday to collaborate with its counterpart in neighboring Thailand to launch a QR code payment system, a bank official said.
The system, which would allow people from
either country to rapidly send funds to one another, is aimed at those
who travel often for business or tourism.
An announcement from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said it
would let users bypass the need to use costly exchanges to turn
Cambodian riel into Thai baht, or vice versa.
The systems will also allow Cambodian workers in Thailand to transfer money to their families at home.
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The NBC’s director-general of central banking, Chea Serey, said the
initiative will receive support from financial institutions in both
countries and that leaders would meet up later this year to define rules
and procedures.
She said the system was set to go public next year.
“This is another effort to promote the use of riel. [It] will allow
Cambodians to use their own currency abroad and will prove to the public
that it is internationally recognised,” she said.
The system will only work for users whose bank accounts utilise Cambodian riel, and aims to be a catalyst to boost riel usage.
Cambodian imports accounted for $15.5 billion in total last year, in
which the imports from Thailand was 16.5 per cent of total imports. It
is second only to China, whose products account for 41.7 per cent of
imports to the country.
In September of last year, the NBC signed an agreement with the
People’s Bank of China in Guangxi to set up an official yuan-riel
exchange rate, allowing businesses to conduct settlements without having
to use the US dollar.
