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The government has approved a draft 2027 budget that would raise national spending by 3.2%, while forecasting faster economic growth than the International Monetary Fund and World Bank expect.
The draft budget, approved Friday, sets national spending at 39.7 trillion riels ($9.8 billion), up from 38.5 trillion riels ($9.5 billion) in this year’s budget law, according to a government statement. Revenue is projected at 32.3 trillion riels ($8 billion), up 6.7%.
Last year the government announced its 2026 budget as 40.9 trillion riels ($10.1 billion), and that figure was widely reported as the budget’s size. It was a broader total that also included spending by provincial and local governments.
The government said the budget’s priority is to “protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” along with maintaining stability and people’s livelihoods amid global uncertainty. It has not released a breakdown of spending by sector.
The government forecasts economic growth of 4.8% next year, up from about 4% this year, the statement said. The IMF and World Bank both project 4% growth in 2027 and expect weaker growth this year than the government does. The IMF forecasts 3% and the World Bank 3.5%. The Asian Development Bank, whose outlook is closer to the government’s, last month cut its 2026 forecast to 3.9% but expects growth of 4.7% next year.
The lenders have cited higher energy costs, weaker tourism and a prolonged real estate slump. The IMF has also pointed to falling remittances after nearly 1 million Cambodian migrant workers returned from Thailand amid border tensions, and it named persistent scam activity as a risk to growth.
Final figures for last year released alongside the draft show the government collected about 7% more revenue than planned in 2025 but spent about 7% less than budgeted.
Economy and Finance Ministry spokesperson Meas Soksensan declined to comment and referred a reporter to the government’s statement.
Mar Sophal, the secretary of a budget working group at the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said he believed the government had cut some spending, including on public investment, because of global uncertainty.
“The Royal Government has reduced some expenditure, including public investments,” he said, adding that some infrastructure projects “may need to be postponed.”
The draft now goes to the National Assembly and then the Senate, both dominated by Prime Minister Hun Manet’s Cambodian People’s Party, before going to the king for his signature.
