Debt traps: Predatory microfinance loans and exploitation of Cambodia’s indigenous peoples

International financial institutions, foreign state-owned development banks, and private investors have fueled a crisis of over-indebtedness in Cambodia through their investments in the microfinance sector. Cambodian banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs) that have received foreign investment have engaged in predatory lending and collection practices, ensnaring millions of Cambodians in debt traps and leading to forced land sales, loss of means of subsistence, child labor, reduced food consumption, and debt suicides. Above: Kreung Indigenous borrowers walking home from work on their farm in O Chum commune, Ratanakiri, Cambodia