Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the government has more than $3 billion in cash and an international reserve fund of around $20 billion which will prove sufficient to pay civil servants’ salaries and manage the Covid-19 crisis.

Hun Sen made his comments when visiting the construction site of a new international airport in Kandal province that is due to be completed in 2023 at a cost of about $1.5 billion. He was responding to citizens and critics who claim the government will run out of money in 2021.

“Some Facebook users post that next year, Cambodia will have no money for salary payments. I just confirmed that Covid-19 would not kill Hun Sen’s government. Now, civil servants and armed forces will receive a raise.

“Even as Covid-19 attacks [citizens] and decreases their incomes, the government has the ability to raise salaries, which are paid twice a month. I would like to point out to [some Facebook users], if they wait to succeed when Hun Sen’s government collapses, they are surely disoriented.

“But I want them to be disoriented forever because they are stupid, so let them be stupid. No need to look for traditional healers to bless them with holy water,” he said.

Until now, Hun Sen said Cambodia had yet to have a company go bankrupt. He pointed to the construction of the Kandal airport as evidence that businesses were continuing to operate smoothly.

While he acknowledged that some incomes had declined, he said Customs officials could still collect some $1.2 billion in tax even though they failed to collect $2 billion as planned.

“Some reporters wonder if Cambodia has real money in hand. We have more than $3 billion not including some $20 billion in an international reserve fund. I speak about the problem of cash. Regarding Cambodia, I would like to confirm that we prioritise saving money. We have more than $3 billion, or about $3.5 billion.

“I just want to tell you not to underestimate Hun Sen’s government. And don’t underestimate Hun Sen’s ability to solve problems. Since the age of 26, I served as a minister and at the age of 32, I served as a prime minister. I have served as the prime minister for more than 35 years,” he stressed.

On Wednesday, Hun Sen will announce a cash handout programme to help poor and vulnerable citizens affected by the Covid-19 crisis. The government will spend roughly $25 million a month to bail more than 600,000 families of financial difficulties.

The money will come from the government’s budget. The government has also set aside $200 million to spend on civil servants’ salaries.

Kin Phea, the director of the Royal Academy of Cambodia’s International Relations Institute, said Hun Sen’s remarks were likely aimed at officials of the Supreme Court-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

He noted that Hun Sen’s criticisms were not only in the context of Covid-19 but also the EU’s partial withdrawal of the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme.

Phea said: “What they want is the collapse of Hun Sen. They raise this problem almost all the time. As long as a problem arises they want to see the government collapse.”

Former CNRP lawmaker Ou Chanroth opined that the effects of Covid-19 had been catastrophic across the world. Cambodia would continue to be affected by the disease for two or three years, Chanroth said.

He said even though the government had confirmed its cash reserves, he was unsure about its actual size and thought the money being used to help poor and vulnerable citizens isn’t enough.

Chanroth said the government would not collapse and neither would the economy. But citizens may be affected by a negative impact on their livelihoods.

“I think that at most, the people suffer if the government continues being like this. The people suffer from difficulty, a lack of food. And there could be some social issues arising inevitably once the economy is in a crisis.

“I believe that there will be measures implemented accordingly and I believe that the people will be the ones to suffer [from the crisis].”