The loan portfolio and deposit amount in Cambodia’s microfinance sector has seen noticeable growth this year, while the number of borrowers has stayed constant and bad loan ratio has been declining slightly, according to data from the Cambodia Microfinance Association (CMA).

CMA’s data showed that the total amount for outstanding loans of the association’s members was $4.62 billion at the end of March. That total is up from $3.32 billion at the same time last year. Deposits in the industry were at $2.2 billion up from $1.62 billion in March of 2017.

Despite noticeable growth of outstanding loans in the industry, the number of borrowers remains almost the same. According to CMA’s data, the number of borrowers from MFIs that are CMA members reached a total of 1.85 million clients by the end of March this year, which is the same number as at the end of March 2017. Depositors in the industry reached 2 million clients in March.

Importantly, CMA data showed that portfolio at risk (PAR), the indicator for non-performing loans, was slightly down this year – from 1.67 percent at the end of March 2017 to 1.37 percent at the end of March this year.