The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) identified 817 instances of inflated prices for food products in 2024 and revised the government procurement contracts of 685 organisations, saving more than 370 million tenge.
According to the agency's press service, FMA officers also eliminated 69 intermediaries and drew up 600 administrative protocols, for which offenders paid fines totalling 11 million tenge.
For example, in 80 kindergartens in the Aktobe region, they managed to reduce the cost of buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, sugar, eggs and salt. It is noted that in one preschool institution in the region, a supplier was selling buckwheat with a markup of over 500%.
In Kostanay, 117 social institutions were found to have purchased buckwheat, sugar, onions, potatoes and eggs with markups of up to 180%.
"Following the intervention of the local FMA department, supplementary agreements were concluded in all government institutions in the region, resulting in savings of nearly 60 million tenge. Similar work was carried out in Astana and the Karaganda region concerning 175 kindergartens, where over 100 million tenge was saved," the statement said.
To prevent unjustified price increases, the FMA recommended that government institutions purchase products from manufacturers and large wholesalers.
At the same time, the agency proposed strengthening administrative liability for exceeding trade markups, applying fines proportionate to the illegally obtained income.
It will be recalled that in April last year, the FMA reduced the procurement price of socially significant food products (SSFPs) in the East Kazakhstan region. At the time, it was discovered that the Centre for Supporting Children with Special Educational Needs was purchasing products at inflated prices. As a result, the procurement price of carrots was reduced by 35% (from 325 to 242 tenge), and cabbage by 60% (from 380 to 238 tenge).
In May, FMA officers identified instances of inflated prices for SSFPs supplied to kindergartens in Astana. The agency secured a reduction in prices under contracts for the supply of products to 21 preschool institutions. The savings exceeded 31 million tenge.
In October, in the Pavlodar region, threefold inflated prices for products in preschool institutions were discovered, with savings totalling over 30 million tenge.