It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you on behalf of the Board of Directors and management of the Rural Development Bank (RDB) to this newly established web page about our institution.

Micro-finance has emerged as an important concept in development finance. With focus of development finance firmly placed in savings and credit, the quantum of micro-finance and the number of institutions dealing with it in Cambodia has shown manifold increase in the recent times. But the demand for rural credit is immense. Micro Finance operators (MFOs) and Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) reach now around 400,000 households, which represent about 20% of the rural population of the country.

RDB is a major source of re-financing for the active licensed and potential credit and savings providers. Our institution is significant at national, regional and local administration levels in implementing credit projects and initiating small enterprise development and financing, in collaboration with international financial institutions, namely Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and local partners, such as Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Rural Development, as well as private sectors. RDB has and continues to participate in the poverty reduction policy of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC). One of the key mechanisms for poverty alleviation introduced by the RGC is to support and strengthen micro-finance services in rural areas through RDB and national and international micro-finance organizations (MFOs) for provision of credit services in support of agriculture and the rural economy based on free markets for development, efficiency and sustainability.

With technical assistance of the National Bank of Cambodia, together with that of the international financial institutions and organizations (AFD, ADB, IFAD, Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association [APRACA], Association of  Development  Financing  Institutions  in Asia  and the Pacific [ADFIAP], CIM of Germany, Microcredit Summit Campaign...) we are supporting MFOs and MFIs in capacity building and encouraging savings mobilization programs.

Please take some time to have a look at our website. We invite you to contact us if you have any queries or expressions of interest in our activities. We thank you for your support and seek your continued cooperation.

Son Koun Thor