Samdech Techo Hun Sen, President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said that Cambodia has been able to manage its national budget responsibly.

Addressing a workshop in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday May 6, 2025, Samdech Techo Hun Sen stressed that Cambodia has transformed from a country with a severe revenue deficit and relying on development partners to finance two-thirds of its national budget to a country with the ability to manage its national budget. Samdech Techo further said that Cambodia has changed its image tremendously when compared to countries that emerged from war at the same time as Cambodia and has transformed from a poor and conflict-prone society to a society with stability, peace and security, and where the people have been beginning to reap the fruits of peace and development. Samdech Techo told the workshop that the poverty rate was reduced to around 10% in 2019, but it increased during the COVID-19 crisis.

The implementation of highly effective intervention measures, both in managing the crisis and in maintaining the stability of the people’s livelihoods, helped increase the purchasing power of the people and brought the poverty rate down to 17.98% in 2024, said the President of the Cambodian Senate. Samdech Techo Hun Sen further stated that Cambodia has transformed from a country that was isolated and subject to sanctions by the international community into a country that has deeply been integrated in the region and the world, becoming a country that can send peacekeepers and actively participate in peace agendas both in the region and beyond.

The workshop was held under the theme “Perspectives and Experiences of Peacebuilding Efforts in Cambodia”, and it was followed by a Q&A forum at the Economic Research Institute of ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) in Jakarta, the Republic of Indonesia.

Samdech Techo Hun Sen, President of the Senate, has been on an official visit to Indonesia from May 5 to 7. He continued his official visit to Timor-Leste from May 7 to 9.  

By Mr Pheara