| Title |
Post-War Reconstruction And Development In Cambodia And The Destructive Role Of Microcredit |
| ID_Doc |
67545 |
| Authors |
Bateman, M |
| Title |
Post-War Reconstruction And Development In Cambodia And The Destructive Role Of Microcredit |
| Year |
2017 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
|
| Abstract |
The micro credit model was introduced into Cambodia in the 1990s and it was expected to make a major contribution to rebuilding and developing the country in the aftermath of a bitter civil war. Thanks to various commercializing (or 'neoliberalizing') reforms introduced in the early 2000s, in the form of a new for-profit business model and a deregulated and de-supervised 'enabling environment', after zow the microcredit sector began to experience explosive growth, and it soon became one of the world's largest and most profitable microcredit sectors. The standard narrative emerged to the effect that it has been responsible for a large number of positive outcomes, especially with regard to poverty reduction, rural agricultural development and all-round sustainable local economic development. As in very many developing countries of late, however, and against the background of a mounting over-indebtedness-driven microcredit crisis in Cambodia that could potentially destmy the sector, this positive interpretation has come under serious independent scrutiny for perhaps the first time. The author finds that the upbeat narrative governing Cambodia's microcredit sector does not hold true in practice. The paper reflects on what the major drawbacks to the microcredit model are. that have emerged in recent years. It concludes that microcredit has contributed to frustrating and blocking Cambodia's post -war reconstruction and development objectives while, not coincidentally, spectacularly enriching the narrow domestic, expatriate and foreign elite that now manages and owns Cambodia's microcredit sector. |
| Author Keywords |
Microcredit; Poverty; Cambodia; Reckless lending; Local economic development |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Social Science & Humanities (CPCI-SSH) |
| EID |
WOS:000540737300003 |
| WoS Category |
Economics; Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism |
| Research Area |
Business & Economics; Social Sciences - Other Topics |
| PDF |
|