PHNOM PENH: The Royal Government of Cambodia this morning endorsed the draft budget law for 2024 worth a total of KHR 38,829 billion or roughly US$9.40 billion, according to the press release from the Office of the Council Ministers.

The approval was made in the weekly plenary cabinet meeting held at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh this morning under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet.

According to the draft budget law released, the planned expenditure in 2024 for the national level will account for a total of KHR 34,497 billion (US$ 8.35 billion) or 24.13 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) down 5.8 percent if compared to 2023 budget law, while for the sub-national level will be some KHR 4,332 billion (US$ 1.04 billion) or 3.03 percent of GDP, up 6.6 percent compared to 2023.

This budget is an effective tool for the Royal Government to respond to domestic and international risks which is designed to take steps to implement the policy to strengthen budget efficiency by focusing on people, institutional capacity, public administration, and governance-based structural reform, and can be dubbed strategic budget for maintaining hard-earned achievements and continuing to hit new foundations to achieve the main goals of the Pentagonal Strategy-First Phase of the Royal Government of the 7th legislature of the National Assembly.

This year, the budget law 2023 approved by the parliament is 39,206,205 million Riel, approximately US$9.6 billion, which represents 29.87 percent of GDP.