The 1:4,000 Reference and Modern Reality
For most of the past decade the riel has traded inside a tight band around the symbolic 1 USD ≈ 4,000 KHR benchmark. This baseline is not a hard peg in the IMF-classification sense; it is the result of an actively managed float in which the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) intervenes to preserve macroeconomic stability in a deeply dollarized economy. In practice, the official daily rate now fluctuates in a narrow corridor — commonly between 4,020 and 4,100 KHR per USD — reflecting balance-of-payments flows, seasonal tourism receipts, and NBC liquidity operations rather than speculative pressure.
NBC, Bakong, and KHR Liquidity
The NBC manages riel liquidity through reserve requirements, refinancing operations, and direct USD/KHR intervention in the interbank market. Since 2020, the central bank has also operated Bakong, its blockchain-based instant-payment backbone, which settles both KHR and USD wallets across participating banks, microfinance institutions, and payment service providers in real time. Bakong powers the KHQR standard — the unified QR code accepted by merchants nationwide — and is a deliberate de-dollarization lever: by making riel payments frictionless at the point of sale, the NBC reduces the convenience premium that has historically favored cash dollars.
Using the Official USD/KHR Rate
For any USD-denominated invoice issued in Cambodia, the KHR equivalent at the MEF rate of the invoice date must appear on the document. Use the converter on the home page for daily lookups, and the historical chart to evidence the rate applied at month-end close. For the full provenance, caching, and disclaimer framework that governs these figures, see our data methodology.