Kazakhstan's treasury faces a 124 billion tenge error, revealing a significant miscalculation.

The Supreme Audit Chamber conducted an audit of the treasury committee, which is responsible for managing both the republican and local budgets. It was found that the treasury system operates with violations that could result in significant financial losses, according to Orda.kz.

https://orda.kz/oshibka-na-124-mlrd-tenge-kaznachejstvo-kazahstana-ulichili-v-grubom-proschete-395215/2024-12-03 07:31:56

Auditors discovered that the treasury is far from functioning perfectly. It makes significant errors in managing budget funds and processing payments. Due to just one such miscalculation, the state likely lost tens of billions of tenge.

“The Treasury Committee, violating the norms of the Budget Code, issued emission securities beyond the initially planned volume in certain months of 2021-2023. Although the forecast for the balance of funds in the republican budget's cash control account was positive. This led to potential budget losses exceeding 124 billion tenge,” emphasized the Accounts Committee.

The committee was also found lacking in oversight of payments for construction projects funded by the budget. It turned out that the treasury only requires one single confirming document from the contractor—regardless of whether it complies with legislation or includes a mark for authorial and technical oversight.

This oversight has also cost Kazakhstan dearly. For instance, in Almaty, the local treasury department paid the contractor twice for the same certificate for the reconstruction of an administrative building. The company received 3.7 billion tenge, even though the actual cost of the work was lower—2.5 billion tenge. And this is not the only similar case.

Advances to contractors were also paid out excessively generously. Even in cases where contractors had outstanding advances from previous years, they were given money “in advance” again.

Problems with treasury support were also uncovered: it turned out that the committee is not always able to monitor the targeted use of budget funds, the completeness of tax payments, and so on. Due to miscalculations in this area, there is a risk that profitable government contracts will be awarded to unscrupulous subcontractors.

In total, the audit revealed 70 procedural violations and 15 systemic deficiencies. The committee was mandated to rectify them. Additionally, Alihan Smaiylov demanded that the treasury improve its information system. This will allow for the automatic blocking of payments made in violation of the law.

This year, Kazakhstan's budget has been endlessly adjusted, although this has not helped in dealing with the crisis at all. To find out why the Kazakh treasury is spending twice as much money as it receives from taxes, read here.