The government plans to ask the donor community for more than $1.4 billion over three years for development and poverty reduction at the Consultative Group meeting in Phnom Penh in June.
On the first day of a two-day discussion between government officials and donor representatives, the government Thursday issued an executive summary of its planned proposal for the June 19 to June 21 donor meeting.
“The total requirements for external assistance over the next three years amount to $1.4522 billion,” states the summary, which was prepared by the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
“I am optimistic about receiving the aid with the proposed amount,” Minister of Finance Keat Chhon said after Thursday’s meeting, which was closed to journalists. “Cambodia needs around $484 million per year for the country’s reform program.”
The government says it has moved ahead on many of the reform measures required by donors, who last year pledged more than $600 million in aid. Actual money distributed in 2001 was $444 million.
Keat Chhon noted that the actual amount of money flowing into Cambodia’s economy is steadily increasing. He said $403 million was disbursed in 1999.
This year’s Consultative Group meeting will be the fifth such gathering. The government’s executive summary claims progress on nearly all the concerns voiced by donors.
Logging, forestry, land laws, judiciary, public administration, banking, finance, commune elections and human rights are all listed as areas where the government says it is moving forward.
“This is a rather rosy picture of progress made,” Japanese Ambassador Gotaro Ogawa said after Thursday’s meeting.
He said the government has made good progress. “In some areas progress is rather slow, but Cambodia is still determined to pursue [reforms],” Ogawa said, adding that he thought Japan was not likely to reduce the amount of money it donates to Cambodia.
Japan’s economy, the second largest in the world, has suffered a recession in recent years, leading to cuts in some overseas development funding. The Japanese government has announced a reduction in its aid to many countries by as much as 10 percent, Ogawa said.
However, he believes that Japan will not cut any of its funding to Cambodia “as long as the Cambodian government continues its efforts of making reforms and adhering to the principle of good governance.”
“All the reforms which are being undertaken are important… but I personally strongly recommend the Cambodian government continues to put emphasis on good governance reforms, administrative reforms, anti-corruption…and judicial and legal reforms,” Ogawa said.
