Cambodia’s commercial banks have steadily increased their deposit and loan bases over the first five months of this year, with deposits collectively growing 12 percent and loans 8 percent since the end of 2009, according to figures from the National Bank of Cambodia yesterday.

In Channy, Acleda president and chief executive, said the growth was a clear sign of the Kingdom’s recovery from the financial crisis.

The NBC figures show that between January and May this year, Cambodia’s commercial bank deposits rose 12 percent to $3.69 billion while lending increased 8 percent to $2.7 billion compared to the total at December 31.

At the end of last year, commercial bank deposits were $3.3 billion, and loans were $2.51 billion, according to the NBC’s report.

Although the Kingdom has 28 commercial banks, retail deposits and lending are concentrated in four: Acleda Bank, Cambodian Public Bank, Canadia Bank, and ANZ Royal Bank.

Acleda received deposits of $796 million, up 16 percent from $684.68 million at the end of last year, while outstanding loans increased to $603 million, up 12 percent from $539.7 million, according to the NBC’s January-to-May figures.

“We see both deposits and lending are growing well this year for Acleda – with both growing at a similar pace,” In Channy said yesterday. “It’s a sign of the recovery in the sectors of this country’s garment exports, tourism and agriculture.”

At Canadia Bank, customer deposits increased by 33 percent to $738 million from January to May this year from $555 million at the end of last year, the bank’s vice president Dieter Billmeier reported last month.

He said lending had risen 9 percent to $420 million by the end of May this year from $385 million at the end of last year.

The deposit and loan figures for ANZ Royal Bank and Cambodia Public Bank were unavailable yesterday.

Tal Nay Im, NBC director general, could not be reached for comment yesterday.