Cambodia - Public finance

All government budgets of the two decades preceding 1975 were marked by an excess of expenditures over domestic revenues; foreign aid and treasury reserves made up the difference. There probably was no domestic public finance system during 1975–78; any public funds in that period came from China. During the 1980s, public expenditures were financed by the former USSR, either directly or through Vietnam.

From 1989–91, the public deficit nearly tripled as a result of falling revenue collection. As assistance from the Soviet bloc ceased after 1990, monetary expansion soared to cover the deficit. By the middle of 1992, with hyperinflation imminent, the government began a series of stabilization efforts to halt the fiscal deterioration. With only limited international aid, however, public expenditures for the necessary reconstruction and development of Cambodia have been restricted.

The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) estimates that in 2000 Cambodia's central government took in revenues of approximately $363 million and had expenditures of $532 million including capital expenditures of $225 million. Overall, the government registered a deficit of approximately $169 million. External debt totaled $829 million.