The Audit Commission of Almaty conducted an audit of the management of state debts and obligations of the city akimat for 2023, the results of which revealed problems in the planning, use and repayment of budget funds.
According to Bes.media, between 2015 and 2023 the akimat entered into 50 loan agreements, of which only three were repaid. The total amount of loans, taking into account supplementary agreements, amounted to 136 billion tenge.
As of 1 January 2023, the total debt was 129.84 billion tenge; by 1 January 2024 it was 126.56 billion. Of this, 32.99 billion tenge is debt owed to the republican budget under 10 loan agreements until 2039.
27.56 billion tenge was allocated for the reconstruction and construction of engineering infrastructure for Almaty Heat Networks LLP, including the construction of a heat main and the reconstruction of the heat outlets of CHP-2 for the 2017 Universiade.
5.42 billion tenge was allocated to support entrepreneurship and youth initiatives through Agricultural Finance Support Fund JSC and Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC.
The debt to other creditors amounted to 93.57 billion tenge under 11 agreements until 2032. This amount includes 11.73 billion tenge for the construction of housing in the Kalkaman-2 and Zhas Kanat microdistricts, as well as 81.85 billion tenge under the 'Employment Roadmap' programme for the repair of social facilities, construction of roads and engineering networks.
As a result, auditors found that 3.93 billion tenge of the debt for micro-lending to young people was returned to the budget unspent, and 3.73 billion tenge for housing in Kalkaman-2 was not used due to delays in tender procedures. Furthermore, 227.7 million tenge from Almaty Heat Networks and Almaty Su LLP is being held up due to delays in completing projects.
The Audit Commission also discovered an overstatement of the cash execution of the budget by 1.07 billion tenge and errors in the calculation of interest on loans totalling 4.52 million tenge.
At the same time, it became known that as of 1 January 2024, the Almaty akimat had made early repayments on:
- a loan from the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund worth 335.14 million tenge to support SMEs, including financing their activities and infrastructure development. In 2023, the final 130.2 million tenge was repaid; as of 1 January 2024, the loan was fully repaid;
- a loan from the Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund worth 2.015 billion tenge to support SMEs, including equipment modernisation and infrastructure development. In 2023, 956.2 million tenge was repaid; as of 1 January 2024, the outstanding balance stood at 629.2 million tenge.
During the audit, SPK Almaty JSC early returned 7.99 billion tenge to the budget, including under loan agreements.
In total, the amount of identified violations amounted to 24.78 billion tenge, including financial violations subject to compensation totalling 8 billion tenge, inefficient planning totalling 3.13 billion tenge and inefficient use of funds totalling 13.65 billion tenge.