KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia, June 9 : Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen on Friday appealed to real estate developers to stop seizing houses from cash-strapped homebuyers.

"I'd like to ask the house developers to give leniency to cash-strapped homebuyers.

"Please stop seizing their houses if they fail to pay the mortgages on time due to their financial troubles," he said in a speech during a get-together with some 18,000 garment factory workers here.

The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis caused income decline for people in nearly all the countries including Cambodia, so some failed to make monthly mortgage payments to developers, he said.

Hun Sen said developers should lower monthly instalment amounts and lengthen payment terms, or allow cash-strapped homebuyers to postpone their payments for a certain period.

"Any house seizure is not good for the national economy and society," he said.

The prime minister said a lot of cash-strapped homebuyers have reportedly seen their houses confiscated. He advised officials to collect the exact number of affected clients from these seizures.

 - Xinhua