Phnom Penh: The Prime Minister of Cambodia, Dr. Hun Manet, has identified customer service charges for the payment of old torn dollars in Siem Reap as a contributing factor to the loss of tourists. The Prime Minister made this statement on Sunday, July 21.

Following the Prime Minister's remarks, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has introduced several measures to be implemented in Siem Reap. These measures include emergency and follow-up mechanisms aimed at facilitating the use of old or dirty US dollars without imposing additional charges on customers, except in cases where the currency is counterfeit.

The NBC has mandated the Siem Reap Commercial Bank branch to accept old or dirty US dollars from customers without any service charge. For very old dollar bills that should no longer be in circulation, the commercial bank in Siem Reap must exchange them for new banknotes at the Siem Reap National Bank branch free of charge and without delay, eliminating the need to send them to the head office in Phnom Penh.

Additionally, the NBC has instructed all banking and financial institutions in Siem Reap to place US $20 and US $50 banknotes in ATMs instead of US $100 banknotes to facilitate tourist spending. Deposits via deposit machines will still be accepted.

Efforts will be made to educate money changers, hotel and restaurant owners about these measures and encourage their cooperation with the National Bank of Cambodia in implementing these mechanisms.

Two other initiatives are aimed at promoting the use of the Bakong Tourist App to support tourism in Cambodia by facilitating payments for international tourists, and collaborating with vending machine companies to set standardized standards for counter-counting machines used by NBC and commercial banks.