The Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) proposed reducing spending on pensions and benefits in the draft republican budget for 2027–2029 by 191.37 billion tenge. According to the auditors, some payments may have been counted twice when calculating the additional financing requirement.
WHY THE SAC PROPOSED CUTTING THE SPENDING
According to BES.media, the three-year budget provides for 22.18 trillion tenge for pensions and benefits. Of this, 17.74 trillion tenge is for pensions and 4.43 trillion tenge is for benefits. In 2027, spending in these areas is planned at 6.82 trillion tenge.
Auditors identified a risk of double-counting payments. This refers to money a person receives later than due, for example after a suspended benefit is reinstated. The calculations did not separate such payments for previous years from payments for the current year. As a result, the same amount could be counted twice.
The SAC notes that current-year spending is already included in the main budget. Therefore, including the same amounts again in the additional requirement creates a risk of double-counting.
WHICH SPENDING THEY PROPOSE TO EXCLUDE
According to data for 2023–2025, on average 92.6% of additional payments for five types of benefits related to the current year. For pensions, this figure was 94.4%. After recalculation, the SAC identified 191.3 billion tenge as the amount it proposes to exclude from the budget calculations for 2027–2029.
The largest adjustment is for solidarity pensions — 54.2 billion tenge over three years. A further 48.1 billion tenge is for disability benefits, 29.2 billion tenge for benefits to large families, 26.2 billion tenge for the basic pension and 20.1 billion tenge for survivor's benefits.
For payments to parents and guardians of children with disabilities, the SAC identified possible double-counting of 10.4 billion tenge, and for benefits for caring for a child up to one and a half years old — 3.1 billion tenge.
Broken down by year, the SAC proposes reducing spending by 59.2 billion tenge in 2027, 64 billion tenge in 2028 and 68.1 billion tenge in 2029. At the same time, the auditors emphasise that this is not about reducing the size of pensions or benefits — what is proposed is to adjust the amount allocated in the budget.
WHY QUESTIONS AROSE ABOUT THE NUMBER OF RECIPIENTS
Some of the SAC's comments concern the projected number of benefit recipients. When preparing the budget for 2027, the Ministry of Labour applied the needs-based principle to ten types of payments.
As a result, the projected number of recipients in the calculations fell from 2,914,483 people in 2026 to 1,970,112 people in 2027. The difference was 944,371 people.
The SAC indicated that the ministry's calculations did not contain enough data to verify where this figure came from. It is unclear how many recipients are planned to be excluded from the calculation and exactly how their incomes will be taken into account.
In addition, discrepancies were found in the calculations. For example, for disability benefits, one calculation states the exclusion of 25,288 people, while another states 26,151 people. The SAC therefore considers that the savings from applying the needs-based principle are not supported by calculations.
WHY THE BUDGET WAS AGAIN CALCULATED WITHOUT A METHODOLOGY
The problem with forecasting the number of recipients, as the SAC notes, also arose during the audit of the previous budget. At that time, the auditors also pointed to the absence of an approved methodology for calculating pensions and benefits.
In December 2025, the Ministry of Labour approved a special methodology, but on 21 August 2026 it ceased to be in force. Therefore, spending for 2027–2029 was again calculated without a current approved methodology.
The SAC noted that there was no single methodology for calculating the number of recipients. The auditors recommended approving one as a regulatory legal act.
HOW MUCH FUNDING WAS NOT USED EARLIER
The SAC also drew attention to the execution of previous budgets. In 2024, 95.7 billion tenge of pension and benefit payments remained unused, and in 2025 a further 124.2 billion tenge. In total, over the two years the amount came to about 220 billion tenge.
At the same time, spending on pensions and benefits continued to grow: from 3.6 trillion tenge in 2021 it increased to approximately 6.8 trillion tenge in 2026.
