The Cambodian cabinet ministers will discuss and approve the draft National Budget Law for 2017 on Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, said here this morning Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.
Speaking at the graduation ceremony of the Royal University of Law and Economics, the premier underlined that this new draft law will boost the state’s income collection, but ease some points as well.
The tax on salary was before imposed on those who get up from 500,000 Riel per month, then it was eased to 800,000 Riel, but with the new draft law, this tax is withheld only with the salary of up from 1 million Riel (Official Exchange Rate : 4,074 KHR/US$), he said.
Last month, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has completed a series of consultations with concerned government ministries to prepare the draft National Budget Law for 2017. All priorities have been set in order to further qualify public services for the people and to sustain the operation of the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC), according to the ministry.
The RGC has planned to increase its total spending by around 23.3% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017 to support the fields of national defense, security, public order, social affairs and economy. Around 1.91%, 3.60%, 5.44% and 1.45% of GDP will be spent on general administration; national defense, security and public order; social affairs; and economic sector, respectively (up 5.4%, 14.4%, 11.76% and 10.74%, respectively compared with the figure in 2016.
The National Budget Law for 2016 was approved with almost US$4.3 billion, up 16% from that in the previous year, of which nearly US$400 million for general administration; some US$700 million for national defense, security, and public order; over US$1 billion for social affairs, and nearly US$300 million for economic sector.