Draft budget approved

The Phnom Penh Post

Sunday, 17 October 2010 22:20 Nguon Sovan and James O’Toole

 

   

The Council of Ministers has approved a draft budget law for 2011 calling for an increase in spending of more than US$400 million compared to last year, including a $22 million rise in national security and defence spending.

Although a sector-by-sector breakdown of the budget was not available, Cheam Yeap, the chairman of the National Assembly’s Banking and Finance Committee, said spending would target key “social needs”.
“For Cambodia, our priority sectors are still education, health, rural development, agriculture, women’s affairs, social affairs and physical infrastructure,” Cheam Yeap said.
The draft budget calls for $2.4 billion in spending for 2011, up from $1.97 billion for this year, for a roughly 18 percent increase. This year’s $1.97 billion represented roughly a 4.6 percent increase from the previous year.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said the budget for defence and security spending had risen from $276 million to $298 million.

This bump, he said, had been driven mainly by the military wage bill