On July 5, the Ministry of Interior issued a directive preventing citizens from using their Cambodian identification cards as loan collateral.

The directive also instructed provincial and capital governors to ensure citizens do not pawn their ID cards, a practice that could hinder the forthcoming general election.

The directive was authorised by Sar Kheng, the Minister of Interior.

The intention is to bolster the adherence to the National Bank of Cambodia's (NBC) regulations and civil code, as certain individuals have been using their ID cards to secure loans, notably from informal, rural credit institutions and pawnshops.

In a statement, the ministry said, "The Cambodia ID cards are a legal document for each individual who has Khmer nationality. Cambodian people were issued the cards to use for various services. When they put their ID cards in pawn to secure loans, they could not exercise their rights to ask for other legal services to benefit the services”.

The ministry has urged city, district, and provincial governors to establish task forces that will catalog financial institutions, informal and formal rural credit operators, or pawnshops that are retaining these ID cards.

The task force is to return the cards to their rightful owners and repeatedly advise these institutions against accepting ID cards as loan collateral.

In the directive, the ministry noted, "In case any financial institutions and formal rural credit operators still receive the Cambodian ID cards, the capital and provincial governors have to notify the NBC to punish them in line with laws and relevant legal documents”.