[{"bbox": [85, 129, 708, 162], "category": "Section-header", "text": "# 4 IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS"}, {"bbox": [85, 196, 382, 226], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.1 Financing Agreement"}, {"bbox": [97, 242, 1087, 269], "category": "Text", "text": "In order to implement this action, it is envisaged to conclude a financing agreement with the partner country."}, {"bbox": [85, 283, 510, 314], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.2 Indicative Implementation Period"}, {"bbox": [97, 329, 1132, 409], "category": "Text", "text": "The indicative operational implementation period of this action, during which the activities described in section 3 will be carried out and the corresponding contracts and agreements implemented, is 48 months from the date of entry into force of the financing agreement."}, {"bbox": [97, 409, 1121, 463], "category": "Text", "text": "Extensions of the implementation period may be agreed by the Commission's responsible authorising officer by amending this Financing Decision and the relevant contracts and agreements."}, {"bbox": [85, 503, 696, 534], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 4.3 Implementation of the Budget Support Component"}, {"bbox": [85, 548, 672, 575], "category": "Section-header", "text": "### 4.3.1 Rationale for the Amounts Allocated to Budget Support"}, {"bbox": [97, 590, 1110, 643], "category": "Text", "text": "The amount allocated for the budget support component is EUR 40 000 000, and for complementary support is EUR 9 000 000. This amount is based on the following considerations:"}, {"bbox": [97, 669, 1133, 855], "category": "Text", "text": "- MEF's and MoEYS' vision on budgetary support providing additional fiscal space to leverage budget funds for the ESP investment activities secondary technical education and STEM access in tertiary. The costing of the implementation of secondary education reforms (CAMSEB) has been estimated USD 74.5M (in 2021)/annum growing up to USD 423M/annum in 2030, with an average of USD 215M/annum (reference USD in 2021). For higher education, the financing need defined by the ESP is approximately USD 140/annum. The current budget of the MoEYS is estimated at approximately USD 850 M per year, of which over 80% is represented by salaries. Recurrent, non-salary expenditures can be estimated at about USD 150M per year."}, {"bbox": [97, 855, 1133, 1072], "category": "Text", "text": "- Two of the policy priorities for disbursement are: \"Increased equitable access to STEM majors in higher education\"; \"Increase equitable access to secondary school\". These two variable tranche indicators focus on the creation/strengthening of sustainable scholarship mechanisms to increase the number of skilled youth. Scholarships in the secondary and tertiary level in STEM and technical subjects (e.g. electricity, electronics, mechanics, food processing, computer science, energy efficiency and sustainable agriculture) supports not only education, also directly other policies supported by the EU under the TEI 1 and TEI 2 (EU CAPSAFE and EU StepUP): namely, the Agricultural Sector Master Plan 2030, Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the National Energy Efficiency Policy."}, {"bbox": [97, 1072, 1133, 1152], "category": "Text", "text": "- Record of recent accomplishment and absorption capacity has been good: almost 100% of resources has been recorded under the current 2018-2023 EU-Cambodia education partnership. The disbursement rate of the BS component was 99%."}, {"bbox": [97, 1152, 1133, 1413], "category": "Text", "text": "- The Government is implementing the Revenue Mobilization Strategy 2019-2023 (RMS-II) since 2019. Thanks to the implementation of the first strategy, domestic revenue collections jumped from 20.08 in 2016 to 24.8% of GDP in 2019. This remarkable performance however was put to an abrupt end in 2020 with the COVID crisis. 23.9% (2020) on the back of a contracting economy and fiscal stimulus package including tax cuts. With the crisis expanding well into 2021, revenue to GDP fell further to 21.6%. Revenue collection has been picking up in 2022 at 22.1% of GDP on the back of strong domestic consumption and increase in tourism. The RMS-II aims at further improving revenue administration and addressing weaknesses in the current system, including broadening of the revenue base through revised tax and non-tax policies. New taxes will be introduced, such as tax on capital gains, personal income tax and tax on e-commerce. Property tax is to be expanded and land property tax rate is to be increased."}, {"bbox": [97, 1415, 1133, 1629], "category": "Text", "text": "- Budget support puts the EU in a unique position with the Royal Government of Cambodia in continuation with previous Education programmes implemented since almost 20 years. The implementation of the Budget Support programme in education has led to a strengthening of the policy dialogue and partnership between the EU, the MoEYS and the MEF. The proposed action, with a clear focus on PFM in education, will make this solid relationship even stronger. The quality of the dialogue between MoEYS and DPs has been very satisfactory, as described in detail in the policy analysis annex, and as recently evaluated by the final evaluation of the current education action and, at large, by the GPE in the Partnership Compact 2025. Coordination mechanisms have been reviewed as necessary and there are strong monitoring systems in place. The EU Delegation regularly meet the"}, {"bbox": [1027, 1681, 1143, 1706], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 26 of 34"}]