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Suspended microloan payments are ending for residents displaced by this year’s border clash with Thailand, including migrant workers returning amid strained ties, leaving many struggling to manage deepening economic hardship and offloading their crops at reduced prices to cover debts.
Kam Moeun, 63, a former displaced resident from the border province Preah Vihear, said repayments on her $8,500 in high-interest loans across two microfinance banks resumed in November.
After a ceasefire was reached in the deadly border fighting in late July, which left dozens dead and temporarily displaced hundreds of thousands of people in both Cambodia and Thailand, most banks and microfinance institutions introduced relief measures for military personnel and affected civilians at the government’s request.
Shortly after returning from a displacement camp in October, Moeun began selling her rice yields at marked down prices at the start of the month to keep up with the bills, with most of the proceeds going to her main lender, Woori Bank, leaving her about $150 to live on.
“I only have a little rice now and I’m almost selling all of it to pay the other bank,” she said.
Like three other families of returned migrant workers and frontier communities interviewed by CamboJA News in late November, Moeun is unsure she can make next month’s payments. Limited job opportunities with adequate pay and falling rice prices have worsened conditions for those hit hardest by tensions with Thailand.
For Han Chantha, 33, a migrant worker who returned from Thailand after the hostilities, LOLC Bank has more than doubled her monthly repayment on a $4,000 loan to $180, including principal and interest, after a three-month pause. Her family home in Oddar Meanchey province, where she now lives with her husband, children and parents, is listed as collateral and could be lost if they fall behind on payments.
“He [the credit officer] said, ‘Please find the money to pay by November 28.’ He asked me to borrow from someone, but I don’t know where to go,” she said. “He said his boss will come to see me at my home on Friday if I don’t pay on time.”
Chou Sophanna, a LOLC credit officer overseeing loans in Choam Khsant district, Preah Vihear province, confirmed that officers visit customers who fall behind on payments to understand the reasons for the delay. He said clients are not forced to pay and can seek loan restructuring, which can extend the repayment period and reduce monthly installments.
“We do not force them. If they don’t have money to pay, we will help them find a solution,” he said.
Chantha and her husband were among nearly one million Cambodians working in Thailand before tensions flared, seeking better pay than at home, where more than 88% rely on informal work and in 2023 the average household held more debt than annual spending.
Many returnees sought temporary refuge in displacement camps.
For years, local banks and microfinance institutions have been accused of predatory lending, fuelling a household debt crisis. Cambodia now has the highest microcredit debt per capita in the world.
The Labor Ministry said nearly 900,000 migrant workers have returned from Thailand this year from fear of expulsion or mistreatment, and pledged more than 80,000 jobs to returnees.
But Chantha and her husband have been unable to find formal work, moving between short-term labor roles at Chinese construction firms in Oddar Meanchey and Kampong Speu that they said failed to pay them.
A one hectare family rice plot in Oddar Meanchey remains their only lifeline, but it is still not enough.
“Now I don’t even have a single cent. I don’t know what to do, I can’t find a solution,” Chantha said, adding that the little she earned washing dishes for a few weeks went to medical treatment for her six-year-old daughter. She hopes to sell her rice yields next month for around $175, but more than half of that must go to a harvester.
Rice prices have also fallen in recent months, the Agriculture Ministry said, citing supply and demand disparities. Spokesperson Dith Tina noted the ministry’s coordination with the private sector in an attempt to ease the burden on paddy growers.
In early November, several private companies announced they would buy thousands of tons of rice from farmers in border provinces at about 1,000 riel ($0.25) per kilogram, aimed at countering low market rates. The announcements followed complaints from farmers that prices had dropped to 500-600 riel ($0.13-$0.15) per kilogram.
However, all the indebted farmers from border towns interviewed by CamboJA News said the companies had yet to purchase their rice.
When asked about a possible renewal of the repayment pause for affected borrowers, spokespeople for the Association of Banks in Cambodia (ABC) and the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA), Sok Chan and Kaing Tongngy, said it was not likely. They noted that the suspension of payments for active-duty military families remains in effect until the end of January 2026.
“For those experiencing economic hardship, they can use the existing credit restructuring mechanisms,” Tongngy said.
“Since almost all displacement camps have been disbanded, we see no reason to continue suspending loan principal and interest,” he added. “Credit restructuring is available for people still facing income loss that affects their ability to repay.”
More than 300 families, roughly 1,200 people, remain at a displacement camp in Thmor Kombor Pagoda in Oddar Meanchey, according to provincial deputy governor Met Measpheakdey, who said they are staying voluntarily but fear returning to the border.
Tongngy and Chan urged struggling borrowers to speak with their lenders about their difficulties.
The Labor Ministry meanwhile downplayed criticism over limited job opportunities for returned workers from Thailand. Spokesperson Sun Mesa reiterated the government’s pledge of 80,000 jobs for returnees when asked about joblessness and debt cited in a recent Human Rights Watch report.
He dismissed the report as politically motivated, saying it interviewed only 56 returnees, some of whom said they must choose between food, microfinance payments and school costs for their children.
Yang Kim Eng, executive director of People’s Center for Peace and Development, said authorities must support former displaced families by repairing damaged homes and providing food and medical care. He said continuing the suspension of debt payments is the most urgent step.
“There should be a suspension for a period of time until they have an income to pay. This is important to address, otherwise they will not be able to earn income because they just returned home,” he added.
