The government has issued two sub-decrees – raising the allowance for civil servants and providing a bonus of 50,000 riel ($12.50) for Khmer New Year.

The sub-decrees, both signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, were issued on Monday.

Civil servants in the legislative, executive and judicial branches, including prison officials of the Ministry of Interior, soldiers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), civil servants of the National Audit Authority, and National Election Committee (NEC) officials, among others will receive the 50,000 riel bonus.

The sub-decree said it will also be given to the families of soldiers and veterans who “sacrificed their lives for the nation”. According to the sub-decree, the bonus must be paid out by April 10.

The second sub-decree revised the allowance for civil servants. Starting April 1, the allowance of these officials will be raised by between 510,000 riel ($126) to 1.2 million riel ($300) a year, depending on their rank and functions.

Sub-national level civil servants will be paid 510,000 riel to 1.2 million riel according to their actual ranks and roles. Sub-national level officials will receive 510,000 riel to 1.3 million riel.

At the same time, for the education sector that includes general education and special education, the government said civil servants who are school principals and general teachers will receive 560,000 riel to 1.8 million riel, while those in the health and justice sectors will receive 510,000 riel to 1.8 million riel.

“Sub-decree Nº 43 dated March 19, 2019, on revising and raising annual pay of civil servants is to be repealed,” the government said.

A report after the annual congress of the Ministry of Civil Service last year said a programme to manage civil servants through information technology ascertained that there were 218,482 civil servants. Of the number, 45,599 were national-level civil servants and 172, 883 sub-national level ones.

Ministry of Civil Service spokesman Youk Bunna could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Independent Teachers’ Association president Ouk Chhayavy said in Tuesday that the provision of annual pay and allowance was not new. This provision had failed to add anything considerable to the living standards of the civil servants.

She said what civil servants and the Independent Teachers’ Association wanted is to have proper salaries that improved their living standards so they do not think of side businesses to make ends meet.

“Even though the government has tried to help encourage all teachers and civil servants for the better, it didn’t satisfy all of us due to the political situation, problems caused by illness and even the partial loss of the EU’s Everything But Arms scheme.

“These make the prices of goods in the market increase by a lot, while the annual pay rises do not meet our expectations or needs,” she said.