Expert: The year 2025 will be challenging for Kazakhstan.

According to the official Telegram channel of the government, the meeting of the Council was attended by Finance Minister Madi Takiyev, Deputy Chairman of the National Bank Akylzhan Baimagambetov, Vice Minister of National Economy Azamat Amrin, and over 20 experts, including leaders of major financial, investment, analytical, and consulting organizations, as well as representatives from the Council of the Kazakhstan Association of Financiers and the NPP "Atameken."

Participants discussed measures to enhance budget revenue. Specifically, a set of new and already proposed measures within the framework of developing a new Tax Code.

Most participants agreed with the proposed changes in the new version of the code, which includes the exclusion of several existing tax benefits, an increase in the corporate income tax (CIT) rate for banks and financial organizations, and the rescheduling of the taxation of rewards from government securities from 2030 to 2026, as well as a review of the taxation of the gambling business.

These measures are aimed at increasing revenue to the budget by more than 1 trillion tenge.

However, these changes are insufficient to cover the existing gap between budget expenditures and revenues.

As noted in the meeting, the annual burden on the budget is increasing, social expenditures are rising, while less than 10% of budget expenditures are allocated to the development of the real sector of the economy. Without reforms in the tax and budgetary sphere, it is virtually impossible to rectify the situation.

Meeting participants expressed their opinions and suggestions on balancing the discrepancies between monetary-credit and fiscal policies and enhancing the efficiency of the taxation system.

"The year 2025 will be challenging for Kazakhstan. We will have to implement long-overdue reforms that have been postponed in previous years. This includes adjusting prices to market conditions so that the state can continue to fulfill its social obligations.

Unfortunately, we need to adopt a series of unpopular reforms now to rectify the situation with taxes, improve their administration, and possibly even reconsider rates. Most importantly, we must do this not just to preserve the National Fund but to ensure that the economy remains market-oriented.

The new Tax Code, part of the proposals we discussed today, will soon be publicly available. I urge everyone to share their opinions," said the chairman of the board of "KF NAC Analytica" (NU) Rasul Rysmambetov.

"Today we discussed the new Tax Code being prepared by the Ministry of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The discussion focused on numerous proposed changes.

The Tax Code currently under consideration is primarily very important for the future of our country. Of course, there are many proposals, such as improving tax administration, increasing or decreasing tax rates, etc.

In this regard, we need solutions that will contribute to improving the future of our people. This is the significance of meetings like today's," emphasized economist Galymzhan Aitqazin.

The creation of a new Tax Code was announced by the head of state in his Address to the Nation in early September 2022.

In June of last year, the Ministry of National Economy published a draft of the document.

In September, during his Address to the Nation, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev noted that haste should not be allowed in the adoption of the new Tax Code and proposed to postpone it until next year.