THE Khmer Rouge tribunal has lowered its multi-million dollar budget for next year, a court official said yesterday.

“Both sides – Cambodian and international – revised the budget for 2011 and they are going to submit this revised budget to the steering committee in New York next year,” court spokesman Reach Sambath said.

The 2011 budget will be submitted “very early next year” and will be “less” than the previously approved proposal of US$46.8 million, he said.

Court officials could not provide details of the budget total or what would be cut.

Under the currently approved budget, 2011 funding for the international side of the hybrid court falls short by about $30 million, and for the Cambodian side by $9 million.

News of the revised budget came on the heels of a $334,000 contribution by the British government, confirmed by the court on Friday, to cover December salaries of staff on the court’s national side, Reach Sambath said.

Staff pay at the hybrid tribunal, which has long been plagued by financial problems, has been repeatedly delayed since the court’s first trial began in early 2009.