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Cambodia's Persistent Dollarization: Causes and Policy Options

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Abstract

Cambodia's economic and social achievements over the past ten years have been the most impressive in its history. Nevertheless, Cambodia today is still as dollarized, if not more so, than it was ten years ago. What is this so, and what, if anything, should the Government do? This paper attempts to answer both these questions, by examining the reasons behind the apparent paradox between a decade of economic and political improvements and continued dollarization, and drawing policy implications from it. We advise against pursuing enforced dedollarization, and advocate a policy option that focuses instead on accelerating accommodative reforms, especially in the financial sector and on legal and institutional reforms. We also identify a host of institutional barriers that need to be overcome to prepare the groundwork for a natural process of de-dollarization.

Suggested Citation

  • Menon, Jayant, 2008. "Cambodia's Persistent Dollarization: Causes and Policy Options," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 19, Asian Development Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:adbrei:0019
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. International Monetary Fund, 2002. "Macroeconomic Adjustment in a Highly Dollarized Economy: The Case of Cambodia," IMF Working Papers 2002/092, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Kiwon Kang, 2005. "Is Dollarization Good for Cambodia?," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 201-211.
    3. Mr. Olaf Unteroberdoerster, 2004. "Banking Reform in the Lower Mekong Countries," IMF Policy Discussion Papers 2004/005, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Salvatore, Dominick & Dean, James W. & Willett, Thomas D. (ed.), 2003. "The Dollarization Debate," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195155365, Decembrie.
    5. World Bank, 2007. "Cambodia - Sharing growth : Equity and Development in Cambodia, Equity Report 2007," World Bank Publications - Reports 7722, The World Bank Group.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ms. Nombulelo Braiton, 2011. "Dollarization in Cambodia: Causes and Policy Implications," IMF Working Papers 2011/049, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Rigg, Robert & Schou-Zibell, Lotte, 2009. "The Financial Crisis and Money Markets in Emerging Asia," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 38, Asian Development Bank.
    3. Hal Hill, 2013. "Is there a Southeast Asian Development Model?," Departmental Working Papers 2013-19, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    4. Reza Y. Siregar & Narith Chan, 2014. "Factors behind Foreign Currency Holding by Household in Cambodia," CAMA Working Papers 2014-58, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    5. Kheng, Veasna & Pan, Lei, 2021. "The Dollarisation Paradox in Cambodia: Network Externalities Matter," MPRA Paper 108712, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Jayant Menon, 2013. "Narrowing the development divide in ASEAN: the role of policy," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(2), pages 25-51, November.
    7. McKibbin, Warwick J. & Chanthapun, Waranya Pim, 2009. "Exchange Rate Regimes in the Asia-Pacific Region and the Global Financial Crisis," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 36, Asian Development Bank.
    8. Nicoleta Bărbuță-Mișu & Tuna Can Güleç & Selim Duramaz & Florina Oana Virlanuta, 2020. "Determinants of Dollarization of Savings in the Turkish Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, July.
    9. Chanthol Hay, 2021. "Dollarization and macroeconomic performance in Cambodia since the first 1993 general election: a historical perspective," International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies, Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(2), pages 27-46, April.
    10. repec:zbw:bofitp:2015_032 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Schou-Zibell, Lotte & Madhur, Srinivasa, 2010. "Regulatory Reforms for Improving the Business Environment in Selected Asian Economies - How Monitoring and Comparative Benchmarking Can Provide Incentive for Reform," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 40, Asian Development Bank.
    12. Hal Hill & Jayant Menon, 2014. "Cambodia: Rapid Growth in an Open, Post-conflict Economy," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(12), pages 1649-1668, December.
    13. Hay, Chanthol, 2021. "Real dollarization in Phnom Penh, Evidence from two surveys," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    14. Koráb, Petr & Fidrmuc, Jarko & Dibooglu, Sel, 2023. "Growth and inflation tradeoffs of dollarization: Meta-analysis evidence," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    15. Samreth, Sovannroeun & Sok, Pagna, 2018. "Revisiting the Impacts of Exchange Rate Movement on the Dollarization Process in Cambodia," MPRA Paper 91240, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2011. "An empirical study on the hysteresis of currency substitution in Cambodia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 518-527.
    17. Madhur, Srinivasa & Wignaraja, Ganeshan & Darjes, Peter, 2009. "Roads for Asian Integration: Measuring ADB's Contribution to the Asian Highway Network," Working Papers on Regional Economic Integration 37, Asian Development Bank.
    18. Hal Hill & Jayant Menon, 2013. "Cambodia: Rapid Growth with Weak Institutions," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 8(1), pages 46-65, June.
    19. Buth, Bora & Kakinaka, Makoto & Miyamoto, Hiroaki, 2015. "Inflation and inflation uncertainty: The case of Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 31-43.
    20. Anna Krupkina & Alexey Ponomarenko, 2017. "Deposit dollarization in emerging markets: modelling the hysteresis effect," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 794-805, October.
    21. AIBA, Daiju & 相場, 大樹, 2016. "Financial Dollarization: Evidence from a Survey on Branches of Cambodian Financial Institutions," Discussion Papers 2016-09, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cambodia; dollarization; exchange rates; currency board; hysteresis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E42 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Monetary Sytsems; Standards; Regimes; Government and the Monetary System
    • E58 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Central Banks and Their Policies
    • F31 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - Foreign Exchange
    • F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions

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