Govt cuts 2025 budget expenditure to $9.3 billion
Govt cuts 2025 budget expenditure to $9.3 billion
The Royal Government of Cambodia Friday approved a budget bill of approximately 37.950 billion riels ($9.32 billion) for expenditure in 2025, down from 38.829 billion riels ($9.54 billion) in 2024.
The draft Budget Bill 2025 was approved at a cabinet meeting on October 25, chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet, said a press release, adding that the budget for 2025 accounts for 18.14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
The draft Budget Bill 2025 will now be submitted to the National Assembly for review and approval followed by the Senate for final review and approval before its submission for the endorsement from King Norodom Sihamoni.
“The 2025 budget will serve as an effective policy tool for the Royal Government of Cambodia to maintain, protect and further strengthen the great achievements that Cambodia has achieved in the past, as well as to continue to lay the foundation for Cambodia’s further development,” the release stated.
The 2025 budget expenditure is designed to meet the priorities and needs of the ministries and institutions, especially the linking of the daily work to the policy objectives of the ministries and institutions that will contribute to the implementation of the overall priority policies of the government, including institutional capacity building, human capital development, building and maintaining physical infrastructure, maintaining physical infrastructure and economic diversification.
Based on the medium-term evaluation of the public financial framework, the Cambodian economy in 2025 is projected to grow at a rate of 6.3 percent, pushing up the country’s GDP to 209,163 billion riels or approximately $51.39 billion, it said, adding that the per capita income is expected to reach $2,924 in 2025.
Expectations of 6.3 percent growth are supported by key economic sectors, the industrial sector by 8.6 percent, service sector by 5.6 percent and agriculture by 1.1 percent, it added, citing that inflation is projected to be around 2.5 percent.
The budget was prepared in a global economy that is full of uncertainties due to the rising geopolitical tension, slow global growth especially in countries that are Cambodia’s major trade partners, particularly to achieve agendas set in the government 7th mandate’s Pentagonal Strategy Phase I.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Hun Manet instructed the relevant ministries and institutions to review the implementation of policies and procedures to facilitate investment and tourism by attracting new investors and paying attention to existing investors.
