Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday announced the government’s new strategy for budget reform aimed at enhancing the sound management of public funds.
Dubbed ‘Budget system reform programme for 2018-2025’, the new blueprint for the country’s budgetary policy was presented to the public during the annual meeting of the public financial management reform programme held last Friday at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra.
“The new strategy for budget reform aims to enhance the effectiveness of multi-year budgeting and the sound management of public funds,” Mr Hun Sen said.
Aun Pornmoniroth, the Minister of Economy and Finance, said with the new strategy Cambodia enters the third stage of a four-phase system of budget reform that got underway in 2004.
After the successful implementation of stages one and two (budget credibility and financial accountability), the programme has now reached phase three, which aims to strengthen the link between budgetary strategy and actual policy, Mr Pornmoniroth explained.
The last stage will focus on performance accountability, aiming to establish performance-based budgeting by 2025.
“In the last few years, the public fund management reform programme has evolved faster and faster,” Mr Pornmoniroth said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said that since the launch of the budget reform programme 14 years ago, the government has made tremendous advancements, including achieving macroeconomic stability, building trust on the national budget and implementing financial information management systems (FIMS), a reform initiative designed to improve the governance and transparency of national budget management.
