The Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) identified shortcomings in the justification of budget expenditures by the Ministry of Industry and Construction and the Ministry of Trade and Integration. In particular, the first agency failed to confirm purchases worth 139.5 million tenge, while the second overstated the calculations for foreign business trips by 15.5 million tenge.
WHAT EXPENDITURES THE SAC REVIEWED
According to BES.media, the SAC reviewed the justification of certain expenditures of 11 state bodies included in the draft republican budget for 2027–2029. The total volume of capital expenditures examined amounted to 23.6 billion tenge.
Of this sum, 17.7 billion tenge was allocated for the purchase of equipment, vehicles, computers and other fixed assets, with a further 5.9 billion tenge — for major repairs. During the audit, the auditors identified shortcomings in confirming the cost and necessity of certain purchases.
WHICH PURCHASES THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY FAILED TO JUSTIFY
The budget materials of the Ministry of Industry and Construction lacked price quotations for purchases with a total value of 139.5 million tenge. In addition, the agency did not specify the names, quantities and technical characteristics of the fixed assets planned for acquisition.
According to the requirements, for each type of property being purchased, at least three price quotations from Kazakh marketplaces or three price lists must be submitted. No such confirmations were found in the materials reviewed.
A separate remark concerned the purchase of 29 system units at 736,100 tenge each. At the same time, in the marketplace data from Omarket attached to the budget request, equivalent equipment cost 640,000 tenge. The difference in the cost of the entire batch amounted to about 2.8 million tenge. The SAC proposed excluding this sum from the agency's expenditures.
WHERE ELSE AUDITORS FOUND A DIFFERENCE
The SAC also compared the cost of computer equipment specified in the budget requests of different state bodies. Prices for tablets ranged from 120,000 to 800,000 tenge, printers — from 90,200 to 500,000 tenge, all-in-one computers — from 448,000 to 1.1 million tenge.
The cost of laptops ranged from 318,000 to 740,000 tenge, and computers — from 411,800 to 880,300 tenge. The auditors noted a significant price disparity.
WHICH CALCULATIONS THE MINISTRY OF TRADE OVERSTATED
Another remark by the SAC concerned the Ministry of Trade and Integration. Under the programme "Services in the field of technical regulation and metrology" for 2027–2029, 5.6 billion tenge was allocated.
When calculating expenditures for foreign business trips, the agency used an exchange rate of 490 to 600 tenge per dollar. Meanwhile, the socio-economic development forecast, which budget requests should be guided by, provides for an exchange rate of 480 tenge per dollar.
According to the SAC's calculations, the use of a higher exchange rate increased expenditures for foreign business trips by 15.5 million tenge.
BY HOW MUCH THE AUDITORS PROPOSED CUTTING THE BUDGET
After reviewing and adjusting the final tables, the SAC proposed cutting capital expenditures by approximately 6 million tenge. Of this, about 2.8 million tenge falls to the Ministry of Industry and Construction, with a further 3.2 million tenge — to the Agency for Atomic Energy.
At the same time, the auditors attributed the 139.5 million tenge of unjustified expenditures by the Ministry of Industry to systemic problems rather than to the amount of direct budget cuts.
The remarks on the Ministry of Industry's purchases and the Ministry of Trade's calculation of business trip expenditures using an exchange rate of up to 600 tenge per dollar were not included in the list of corrections made during the budget assessment.
