Cambodia has spent $1.4 billion in assisting the poor and vulnerable people in the country since 2019, Minister of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation Chea Somethy said on February 5, 2024.

Speaking at the ministry’s annual conference, Somethy said to date, the government has offered a total of $1.4 in cash assistance to more than 1.43 million families and 360,000 pregnant women.

The Southeast Asian nation has provided cash handouts to poor pregnant women and children under the age of two since 2019, to COVID-19 affected poor people since 2020, and to inflationary pressures-hit households since 2022.

“These programs have importantly contributed to the improvement of the livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable people in the country,” he said.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Cambodia released a report last July, saying that the programs had significantly benefited the poor and vulnerable households.

The UN agency said the poverty rate in Cambodia had declined to 16.6 percent in 2022 from 36.7 percent in 2014, and that the number of poor people was halved from 5.6 million to 2.8 million.Xinhua

• Tags: poor, UNDP