Minister of Civil Service Prum Sokha has said that state spending on the salaries of civil servants had not exceeded state budgetary limitations.
The minister made the remarks at an October 20 press conference at the Council of Ministers summarising the ministry’s achievements over the past five years.
Responding to concerns the state may have overspent on the salaries of civil servants, Sokha said the outlay was within budgetary limitations.
“The current minimum salary of civil servants is 1,170,000 riel, which is suitable to both the state’s capacity and the size of the civil service.
“We spend nearly $100 million on civil servants on a monthly basis, which does not include the salaries of members of the military or the police.
“Spending on civil servants and members of the armed forces did not exceed budgetary limitations,” he said.
Spending in 2022 was not problematic, he added, amounting to 45.3 per cent of current expenditure, or 6.97 per cent of GDP.
Sokha emphasised the need to balance not allowing the salaries of civil servants to be too high, to meet budgetary requirements, with them being too low, which could lead to affected performance.
According to the ministry, in 2019 there were a total of 211,094 civil servants (with women accounting for 87,519, or 41.46 per cent), of whom 38,250, or 18.12 per cent, were at the national level and 172,844, or 81.88 per cent, at the sub-national.
