AMRO LAUNCHES SPIRIT PILOT PROGRAMME TO ENHANCE TAX COLLECTION IN CAMBODIA 

By Vijian Paramasivam

PHNOM PENH, Dec 17 (Bernama) -- Cambodia is initiating efforts to enhance tax collection efficiency to increase the Kingdom's domestic revenue in the upcoming year, which is crucial for funding public spending.  

The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) and Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance are collaborating to establish a more efficient and sustainable tax system.

Both will launch a technical assistance project in early 2026 to boost the country’s domestic revenue mobilisation, marking ASEAN+3’s first pilot under the Structural Policy Improvement and Review Instrument with Technical Assistance (SPIRIT).

“The launch of SPIRIT marks a major milestone for AMRO and our member economies. By tackling longer-term structural issues, SPIRIT enables AMRO to more closely integrate macroeconomic surveillance with targeted technical assistance,” AMRO Team Lead, Technical Assistance, Aziz Durrani, told Bernama.

The pilot, backed by initial financing support from AMRO’s China Technical Assistance Trust Fund, will support the ministry in enhancing its capacity to assess and improve revenue streams, including tax incentives, carbon taxes and non-tax revenues, AMRO said in a statement.

SPIRIT, endorsed by ASEAN+3 finance ministers and central bank governors in May 2025, is a voluntary, non-binding instrument offering pre-defined thematic technical assistance projects for structural reforms across member economies.

Unlike other technical assistance projects that focus on a specific issue and last between six and 12 months, this programme will offer up to three years of sustained support and expert guidance on assessments and recommendations.

“This approach allows us to not only identify emerging risks and diagnose challenges but also to provide direct, ongoing support to resolve them.

“Ultimately, this will help to strengthen economic growth, financial stability and risk management for all members in the ASEAN+3 region collectively,” said Aziz.

AMRO and the ministry signed a letter of intent to formalise the project on November 26, on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting in Hong Kong, China.

-- BERNAMA