COVID-19 exacerbates poverty, government are helping poor family

Under the government's clear development policies, the country has achieved peace and strong economic growth, which has steadily reduced Cambodia's poverty rate from 53.2% in 2004 to 10% in 2019.

Millions of people still live in poverty. The pandemic has exacerbated poverty in Cambodia, and this situation is worsening.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that Cambodia's GDP will fall to a negative growth of 1.5% this year. The Asian Development Bank gave a more optimistic forecast. After 20 years of strong performance, Cambodia's economic growth is expected to drop to 2.3% this year.

The rice tank in my house is empty

The pandemic weighed heavily on low-income and poor family. At a donation event, Su Shan, who lives in the Chbar Ampov of Phnom Penh, told reporters that the rice tank at home is empty. If COVID-19 continue in this way, his family may be starve.

As soon as he had finished speaking, Su Shan hurried to collect materials from the charity Institution. When he turned around, he crouched on the ground and picked up the grains of rice carefully. "I have to pick up, my family rice tank is empty." Su Shan said helplessly.

In order to help the poor people through the epidemic, the Cambodian government will launch a number of measures, including the grant of cash subsidies.

Since the outbreak of the global pandemic, many countries such as Japan, South Korea, and the United States have announced that they will directly provide subsidies to the people. Japan provides a cash grant of 100,000 yen (approximately US $ 1,000) to each national. The US House of Representatives voted on March 27 to pass a $ 2 trillion economic stimulus bill, of which 250 billion will be used for direct cash subsidies.

Chhay Than, Minister of Planning, said that assisting the poor is a difficult issue, and the government is accelerating the formulation of comprehensive poverty alleviation measures.

He said that at present, the National Provincial and Municipal Planning General Ministry is collecting information on poor households, including those who hold a "poverty certificate".

"Through the collected data, we will know the poor households throughout the country, especially in rural areas, the vulnerable groups, the extent to which they are affected, and the help they need."

He said that the government plans to issue cash subsidies to the poor, and a digital system is under construction to collect statistics on all poor households. The system is expected to be completed by the end of May or June. The system will subdivide vulnerable groups, and family members will include AIDS patients, people with disabilities, the elderly or children.

600,000 "Poverty Certificates" issued cumulatively

Chhay Than pointed out that the General Administration of Documents of the Ministry of the Interior will train officials to collect information on poor households during the pandemic. Poor households can also apply to the local government for "poverty certificates" or other certificates.

As of the beginning of 2019, the Cambodian government has issued a total of 600,000 "poverty certificates" to the whole country, benefiting about 2 million people.

Chhay Than believes that due to pandemic, many people will fall into poverty, so it will take some time to collect data.

In addition to the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Finance will participate in the formulation of poverty alleviation measures, standardize the payment mechanism and management mechanism of cash subsidies, ensure transparency and independence of work, and protect the interests of poor households.

It is understood that at present, the Cambodian government is working on drafting a fiscal master plan to help small and medium-sized enterprises and low-income people cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The draft "Overall Development Plan for Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak" will launch the first social assistance and economic support plan with a total budget of US $ 450 million, of which US $ 100 million will be used to revitalize the economy and the remaining US $ 350 million will be used to help the vulnerable Groups and unemployed workers. The above budget comes mainly from the Cambodian government, and part of it comes from development partners.

In response to the pandemic and the impact of EBA, the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank have announced a number of measures, including requiring commercial banks and micro-finance institutions to allow affected borrowers to apply for "debt restructuring", including a six-month delay in loan repayment.