Over‐indebtedness and microcredit in Cambodia: Moving beyond borrower‐centric frames

Over the past two decades, Cambodia has experienced an unprecedented credit boom, a growth in lending so rapid that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) referred to it as “one of the fastest financial deepening episodes by historical cross‐cultural standards” (IMF, 2016, p. 4). This deepening has been driven by the expansion of microcredit. In tandem, over‐indebtedness has increased among microcredit borrowers, and debt has become a significant political and economic concern. This article explores how over‐indebtedness is understood and explained by stakeholders across microcredit value chains. To do so, we draw on interviews with microfinance institution (MFI) executives, investors, branch managers, partners, financial literacy trainers, loan officers and borrowers in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We find that across the sector, dominant framings of over‐indebtedness privilege borrower‐centric explanations, while discounting the structural drivers of excessive lending and borrowing. As a consequence, current efforts to limit over‐indebtedness are unlikely to produce the kinds of solutions that are most needed to reduce the debt stress among borrowers. These arguments have implications across the Global South, particularly for contexts where microfinance is rapidly expanding.     

准确反映房地产价格水平的难点与对策研究

 房地产是一种有别于日常消费品的特殊商品：从经济形态看,既具有投资属性又具有消费属性;从物质形态看,具有固定性、耐久性和唯一性。房地产价格作为房地产经济运行中重要、敏感的市场信号,其价格水平及波动越来越受到社会各界的高度关注。但由于影响房地产价格水平的因素多而复杂,准确反映房地产价格水平及其变化的工作在全球范围都面临着严峻的挑战,我国也不例外。 基于不同类型商品价格指数必须遵从共同的基本规律和要求,以及房价问题的社会关注度和敏感性,本文在理清当前我国房地产价格统计工作现状并分析所存在难点及问题的基础上,重点探讨准确反映新建商品房销售价格水平的思路,提出进一步改革和完善我国房地产价格统计制度和方法、改进房地产价格统计各环节的工作和规范房地产价格信息发布,以更加准确地反映房地产价格水平及其波动的对策和可行性建议。