The National Bank of Cambodia announced yesterday that it will hold its third liquidity-providing collateralised operation (LPCO) on December 20 with 40 billion riel ($9.89 million) available to Cambodian financial institutions in need of liquidity.

The auction will be the same size as the first and second LPCO ones held in October and November, respectively. Repurchase agreements (repos) were signed for 12 billion riel ($2.96 million) in the first auction, and 8.4 billion riel ($2.07 million) in the second.

The central bank introduced its LPCO mechanism in October as a way of increasing local currency liquidity while moving toward the establishment of a benchmark interest rate.