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Asia-PacificMarch 30 2010

Bankers at odds over Cambodia's financial crisis

Canadia Tower: a symbol of Cambodia's growth period prior to the international financial crisisCambodia's government-engineered slowdown after five years of unsustainable economic growth could not have been implemented at a worse time, coming as it did just before the global financial crisis. Consequently the crisis has hit Cambodia's banks hard, though just how hard is a matter of some debate between the IMF and the country's senior bankers. Writer Brian Caplen
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Bankers at odds over Cambodia's financial crisis

After five years of unfettered capitalist growth during which property prices rose 10 fold and Phnom Penh's colonial streets clogged up with Range Rover and Lexus cars, Cambodia was finally hit by a double whammy.

A government-engineered slowdown followed by the impact of the international crisis turned into a rout - property prices halved, construction ground to a halt and the banks got hit by a wave of non-performing loans (NPLs). Or did they?

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