Budget pushed through

Cambodia’s 2012 budget passed through the National Assembly yesterday unopposed, without a single question asked and no parliamentary debate in a situation the government, opposition and observers all said was unfortunate. It took just over three hours for the law to be passed, 86 to 0, in a vote that was boycotted by the country’s main opposition force, the Sam Rainsy Party — a move intended to cast doubt over the law’s validity. The smaller opposition Human Rights Party also boycotted the debate. The SRP have said they took the drastic action because the party could not stand by as the government sold off vast amounts of Cambodia’s  natural resources to friends and foreigners while drafting a budget that allows for the potential addition of as much as US$1.1 billion in foreign debt… …In total, the budget allocates $2.752 billion in public expenditure, an increase of about $310 million or 12.69 per cent more than the previous year, and allows the government to draw up to $1.1 billion in concessional loans, called special drawing rights…

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112552980/National-news/budget-pushed-through.html