“Istrongly believe that our concerted efforts among stakeholders would gradually promote the local currency and significantly make the riel to be the national symbol of sovereignty, to benefit macroeconomic policies and to be the resilience for the economy.”   H.E. Chea Chanto, Governor, National Bank of Cambodia

“It is important for Cambodia to have its own currency. It is about sovereignty. We will have our own currency. It is national pride as well.”   Dr In Channy, President and Group Managing Director, Acleda Bank Plc

“Effective monetary policy aims to stimulate the economy while providing cooling measures to prevent it from overheating. [In the] long term, this will have a positive implications for the stability of the economy and the prices of goods and services”   Bun Yin, Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Bank Plc

“After we started to display the riel currency price (tags), a requirement by the NBC and we see more spending in riel because the customers’ perception is that (products) in riel is less expensive compared to the US dollars.”   Patty Heng, Chief Operating Officer, DFI Lucky Private Limited

“The usage of local currency in the rural areas are already prevalent and widespread showing that Cambodians are already comfortable transacting in riel. All these are evidence that riel usage is slowly becoming a norm in the market place.”   Han Peng Kwang, General Manager, Phillip Bank Plc

“Now, with highly dollarised economy, options for monetary policies to navigate the economy are very limited. The most important thing to do is to make sure that riel continues to be stable.”   Samsen Neak, Research Director, Nuppun Research and Consulting

“And from operational perspective, costs of MFIs dealing in riel tend to be higher because more staff are required, for instance to count the money [due to multiple denomination], in [physically] transporting the cash and storage problems.”   Kea Borann, Chairman, Cambodian Microfinance Association

“On behalf of the insurance industry, we congratulate the efforts of NBC in trying to promote our local currency in our daily transactions. While we are still using USD in most of our transactions, things have begun to change in recent years as we have always given the options for clients to make payment in riel. The volume of payment in riel has also increased and expect even more in the future.”   Youk Chamroeunrith, Managing Director, Forte Insurance (Cambodia) Plc

“The continued growth in the usage of the riel in financial transactions big and small is an encouraging sign for Cambodia’s fast-growing economy and as a financial services company we welcome moves to encourage further and practical adoption of the riel.”   David Nutman, Chief Executive Officer Prudential Cambodia

“From our perspective, I think the strength of Grab is a regional [player] but a hyper local company and in every country we go, we want to transact in the local currency.”   Ron Wong, Country Head, Grab (Cambodia) Co., Ltd

“Companies operating in Cambodia should actively look to increase the usage of riel in their operations for the riel’s continued rise. We are committed to promoting the use of the riel in digital transactions – users are able to cash in, spend and withdraw in riel from their accounts across Cambodia.”   Tomas Pokorny, Chief Executive Officer, Pi Pay