Gov’t will not cut infrastructure spending

• 10 July 2020
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The Cambodian government is excluding funding for building and restoring infrastructure from its COVID-19 budget cuts.

According to the government announcement, the 2020 fiscal budget cut is being implemented to save money for economic recovery, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.

The budget gained expenditure cutting will be used as a subsidy fund for COVID-19 affected-garment workers, a COVID-19 social fund for poor people, and special loans for private sectors disbursed through state-run banks –SME Bank, and Agriculture and Rural Development Bank.

Speaking at a press conference held on 08 July, Permanent Secretary of States of Ministry of Economy and Finance H.E Vongsey Vissoth, said that budget for building and fixing roads as well as restoring canals and irrigation systems are important and necessary for the economy, and therefore will not be cut.

“As a countermeasure to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the 2020 budget framework, we cut or reduce any expenditures that are not necessary or no longer necessary. For the necessary ones, we will keep all of them for the sustainable growth of country, economy, and people’s living,” he said.

The government, on the other hand, decided to increase the budget from US$38 million to US$100 million for the ‘Cash for Work’ scheme. The budget will also be used to implement projects such as restoring infrastructure, canal systems, and irrigation systems, and creating jobs in rural areas.

According to the same source, the approved fiscal budget for 2020 is US$8.2 billion, which includes projects for building physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges, canals, irrigation systems, and building and restoring agricultural infrastructure and which accounts for US$1.8 billion.

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