The official launch of Wing Bank (Cambodia) Plc amid the COVID-19 pandemic clearly reflects investors' confidence in Cambodia's economic development, officials said here on Monday.

Wing Bank is the 56th commercial bank operating in the Southeast Asian country.

Rath Sovannorak, director-general of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC)'s Banking Supervision, said the pandemic has a negative impact on the economic growth, the profitability of companies and enterprises, as well as the inflow of foreign capital, but high vaccination rates have enabled Cambodia to fully reopen in November last year.

"The official launch of the Wing Bank is a testament to the development of the banking sector in Cambodia as well as the trust from both international and local investors to the development and enrichment of Cambodia's economy despite the COVID-19 pandemic," he said at the event.

He said the kingdom's banking industry had enjoyed strong growth in both deposits and loans last year despite the impact of the pandemic.

In 2021, Cambodia's banking system had assets of 69.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 17.2 percent year-on-year, he said, adding that customers' deposits increased by 16.5 percent to 39.2 billion dollars and customer loans rose 22.7 percent to 46.7 billion dollars.

"The resilience and strength of the banking system are reflected through an adequate capital ratio of 23.1 percent, a liquidity ratio of 151.6 percent, and a non-performing loan ratio of 2 percent," Sovannorak said.

Cambodia achieved an economic growth of 3 percent in 2021 after a 3.1 percent contraction in 2020.

"For 2022, the Cambodian economy is expected to recover further as the NBC has been striving to implement a monetary policy to effectively stabilize prices and exchange rates as well as to strengthen control mechanisms to maintain the strength of the banking sector in Cambodia," he said.