Spending on social services will increase this year, but teachers and civil servants won’t get a boost in wages in 2001, according to Council of Ministers officials, who passed a draft national budget late Friday.
Officials declined to specify the total sum in dollars of next year’s budget, but said expenditure was forecast at 10.49 percent of the gross domestic product. Last year’s budget totaled $620 million.
Spending on health care, education and rural development will increase, and spending on defense will go down, So Victor, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Finance, said. He declined to say precisely how much money will go to those programs, but added that no money has been allocated to raise the salaries of teachers and civil servants.
A Council of Ministers press release says government revenue will rise to 11.93 percent of the GDP, up from last year’s 10.49 percent.
However it is not yet clear how the government intends to collect more money.
Foreign donors, who provide a large part of the money for Cambodia’s budget, have consistently called for cuts to defense spending, improvement for social services and boosting revenues by improving the tax system.
Donors have also called for the state to provide a living wage for teachers and civil servants as a first step toward administrative and educational reform.
Last year’s budget saw a significant increase in spending on social services but only a modest decline in expenditure on defense.
The draft budget must be passed by the National Assembly and the Senate before it becomes law.
