PAGE, in partnership with the Cambodian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), organized a consultation workshop on 11 June 2025 in Phnom Penh to advance Cambodia’s budgeting process and align it with national development plans, as well as regional and global trends. This pivotal initiative comes at a critical juncture in Cambodia’s development trajectory, as the nation prepares for its transition from least developed country status by 2029, advancement to upper-middle-income status by 2030, and ultimately achieving high-income country status by 2050.
11 June 2025
Advancing Cambodia’s Sustainable Budgeting Process
Workshop Dynamics
Bringing together 100 participants and stakeholders from MEF’s general departments, line ministries, and key development partners, including the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, UNITAR and UNDP, the workshop served as a platform for exchanging insights, best practices, and challenges related to sustainable budgeting. Participants engaged in comprehensive assessments of current public financial management (PFM) practices, explored innovative sustainable budgeting tools within the framework of Cambodia’s ongoing PFM reform, and collectively identified priority implementation areas. Throughout facilitated group discussions, participants delved into the Sustainable Budgeting Approach (SBA) concepts and their applications within the budgeting process, generating actionable insights that can be integrated into respective institutional workflows.
Cambodia consultation workshop June 2025 SBA
High-Level Endorsement and Path Forward
In his opening remarks, H.E. Pen Thirong, Secretary of State at the MEF, emphasized Cambodia’s two decades of engagement in PFM reform, ‘’yielding commendable results in enhancing public financial management governance and advancing socio-economic development”. He highlighted the use of internationally recognized tools to evaluate the public financial system and underscored the collaboration between the General Secretariat of the Steering Committee of the Public Financial Management Reform (GSC) and PAGE in leveraging global experiences to support sustainable, inclusive development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The workshop concluded by establishing a clear path forward: the pilot implementation of a Sustainable Budgeting Approach in alignment with the Cambodia’s ongoing PFM reforms.
This workshop represents a significant advancement towards a more sustainable and efficient budgeting process, aiding the government in identifying gaps that must be addressed to align Cambodia’s system with national development plans, as well as regional and global trends. This effort is particularly crucial as Cambodia confidently prepares to graduate from a least developed country by 2029, transition from a lower-middle-income country to an upper-middle-income country by 2030, and achieve high-income country status by 2050.
His Excellency Mr. Pen Thirong
Secretary of State, the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Cambodia
What is the Sustainable Budgeting Approach?
The Sustainable Budgeting Approach (SBA) is an evidence-based and country-contextualized decision-support tool, designed to help finance ministries identify, track, and resource strategic policy opportunities to reach national, economic, environmental and social objectives. The SBA builds on the Global Recovery Observatory (GRO) methodology enhancements supported by PAGE and is being included in national country programming across PAGE and non-PAGE countries. The MEF is currently piloting this approach, particularly the General Department of International Cooperation and Dept Management (GDICDM) and the General Secretariat of the Steering Committee of the Public Financial Management Reform (GSC).