PHNOM PENH, April 19 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of China is going to expand its business operations in Cambodia after it was launched here two years ago and seen rapid business growth, Zhu Shuming, visiting deputy governor of Bank of China, said Friday.

Speaking at a meeting with Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), Zhu thanked the NBC for supporting the presence of Bank of China-Phnom Penh Branch, saying that the bank has seen rapid business growth since it was officially launched here in May 2011 and opened its first sub- branch in December last year.

He said currently, the bank has started to make profits from its business operations and ranked the 7th largest bank in Cambodia.

"The bank's progress shows that Cambodia's banking sector still has much room to grow," he said, adding that the bank planned to increase its investment in Cambodia through opening more sub- branches.

He asked the NBC to support the bank in its business expansion plan.

Chea Chanto pledged support to the bank, saying that the presence of the Bank of China has largely contributed to developing Cambodian economy and strengthening the banking system.

He added that the Bank of China is playing a vital role in promoting trade and investment ties between Cambodia and China.

Earlier in the day, Zhu also met with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Keat Chhon in order to seek his support for the bank's business expansion plan.

At the meeting, Keat Chhon said Cambodia and China set a target last year to boost the bilateral trade volume to 5 billion U.S. dollars by 2017. In this sense, he asked the bank to lend more to trade sector in order to help the two countries achieve the goal.

He also urged the bank to focus on rice industry in terms of lending in order to help Cambodian government achieve the target of exporting 1 million tons of milled rice by 2015.

Bank of China is a state-owned public listed bank in China and is a leading commercial bank in the world.

Currently, Cambodia has 33 commercial banks, serving about 1.6 million borrowers and 1.9 million depositors, according to the NBC.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Domestic demand is ramping up in Asia, boosting growth in a historically export-led region, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said here on Friday.

"Domestic demand in Asia has been more of a key driver of Asian growth than we could have expected a couple of years ago," said Anoop Singh, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific department, at a news conference about the Asia-Pacific economic outlook.

The IMF has recommended in recent years that emerging Asian nations boost domestic demand from newly wealthy consumers, so as to shore up their economies against the Western economies in crisis.

"Consumption and private investment has been robust across Asia, " Singh noted.

Particularly in countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which includes Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, "you see that demand has picked up and there's more demand within ASEAN economies," he said.

"Demand is coming more in consumer products within ASEAN and less simply from the supply chain," he added.

At the same time, Asia is "clearly continuing to lead the three- speed global recovery," Singh said, reiterating IMF reports earlier this week that split the world into three groups, with emerging economies faring well, countries including the United States on the mend, and the eurozone and Japan not yet out of the woods.

After a year of subdued performance, growth in Asia is set to pick up gradually in 2013 to around 5.75 percent, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous year. In China, growth is on track with earlier predictions, at around 8 percent this year, and is projected to pick up to 8.25 percent next year. Japan's stimulus is expected to help sustain growth at 1.5 percent this year, the IMF said.

It also expects some variation within the ASEAN countries, such as Cambodia and Myanmar, which are expected to grow at a rapid clip that exceeds 6.5 percent.

Risks are "narrower" and "more balanced than they were 6 months ago," but they are still there, Singh said.

"Credit ratios and output levels are moving above trends in several Asian economies, fueled by easy global and domestic financial conditions," he explained. "While corporate and financial sector balance sheets in the region are generally sound, financial imbalances can worsen and are often difficult to unwind. "