The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing 10.81 million USD to support efforts by Cambodia to improve its public financial management to ensure that much-needed government funds reach the rural poor.
According to an ADB press release on December 4, the programme consists of a 6.71 million USD grant to strengthen public financial management (PFM) reforms in the three ministries supporting rural development, namely the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. Another 4.1 million USD grant will fund an institutional and capacity development project.
A strong public financial management system will help the government implement its National Strategic Development Plan, which aims to reduce poverty, particularly through policy and financial support to the agricultural sector, which employs an estimated 70 percent of the rural population and accounts for a third of gross domestic product, said the release.
The capacity development needs of the government's National Audit Authority will also be taken into account by the programme to improve the overall governance framework of Cambodia 's public sector, it added./.