Ministry to launch budget training programme for commune officials
STARTING next year, specialists from the Ministry of Economy and Finance will run a training course on efficient budget management for officials in 1,648 communes across the Kingdom.
The provision of the budget for each commune is expected to rise to $100,000 over the next three to four years, a senior ministry official said.
The initiative was announced during a public forum on Public Financial Management and Citizen Engagement held in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
Organised by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, the event was attended by some 200 people, including students, commune officials and representatives from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the EU.
Attendees discussed the creation of a joint forum between civil society organisations and the government to learn about progress and challenges and to set the goals for ongoing public financial management reforms that had been implemented since 2004.
Dy Sovann, the deputy director-general of the General Department of Sub-National Public Finance, said the budget for commune development would increase every year. He said next year will see an increase of $60,000 to $70,000, and jump to $100,000 in the years 2023-2024.
He said with the budget increase, officials in charge of finance at each commune are required to advance their knowledge of managing budget in line with financial and procurement procedures.
“For commune officials, we’ve been providing them with training. The Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Interior have trained them.
“But with budgets increasing gradually, commune officials need to learn to manage funds, payments, procurements and plan more efficiently,” he said.
Starting next year, he said one or two officials in charge of finance at communes across the country would be invited to Phnom Penh to undergo training courses on budget management by specialists from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
Keo Buly, the development programme manager at NGO Forum on Cambodia, welcomed the move. He said once commune officials acquired finance management and planning skills, they can ensure that funds are used properly and correspond to the people’s needs.
“Commune officials need to have a longterm vision for sustainable development. For instance, when infrastructure is built in the communes, they have to plan what need to be built. Is it resistant to, say, climate change? Planning is important,” he said.
Lim Pisiek, a council member from Anlong Tnort commune in Pursat province’s Krakor district, said budget allocated for communes over the years have been used mainly for the construction and restoration of roads and canals.
He said the budget is still limited and not sufficient enough to implement all development projects laid out by the commune.
“For the years 2018-2019, the commune received more than 100 million riel ($25,000). Of the total, 110 million riel is allocated for the construction of new canals.We use the small remaining amount to build drainage systems. Besides these, we have not done other projects because we had run out of funds,” he said.