The FBRK editorial team continues to analyse the largest state procurements of Kazakh ministries in 2024. Today, we examine the most expensive purchases of the ministry of finance.
The Ministry of Finance is a complex digital mechanism that manages the country's financial flows on a daily basis. Unsurprisingly, the department's main expenses last year went on technical support for information systems.
Technical support for service and telecommunications equipment tops the list of Ministry of Finance expenditures, totalling 1.4 billion tenge. This is followed by maintenance of software and hardware systems and security systems for 1.3 billion tenge.
The integrated automated information system "e-Minfin" cost the department over 745 million tenge. Support for the tax administration information system amounted to around 706 million tenge. Expenditure on services for the maintenance of information systems of the state revenue committee came to approximately 629 million tenge.
Further down the list of largest expenses is the administration of state planning information systems for 461 million tenge. Two contracts for the maintenance of the automated customs administration system "Astana-1" cost the ministry 284 million tenge each.
A data processing centre with 76 units of equipment cost the ministry over 280 million tenge. Administration of the treasury committee's information systems – around 215 million tenge. The "Risk Management System" of the state revenue committee required 206 million tenge, and the operation of the state property register – 229 million tenge.
Nowadays, digitalisation is becoming not only a tool for optimisation but also a key mechanism for ensuring transparency, efficiency and security of financial processes. This is why investments in the digitalisation of the Ministry of Finance and its committees are a necessity.
One must not forget, however, that these investments amount to billions of tenge, and therefore require not only technological but also economic justification. Every million spent must translate into a concrete economic effect: reduction of costs, minimisation of corruption risks, acceleration of financial processes, and improvement of the accuracy of financial planning.
Moreover, large-scale digitalisation poses fundamentally new challenges for the workforce of financial departments. This is not only about technical modernisation, but also about shaping a new generation of civil servants – highly qualified specialists capable of working at the intersection of finance, law and advanced information technology.
Incidentally, in October 2024, the FBRK editorial team reported that heads of departments within the Ministry of Finance of Almaty and Astana are suspected of accepting bribes from a businessman for favourable resolutions of tax audits.
In September, our editorial team published a list of Kazakh departments with the number of employees convicted of corruption in 2023. The Ministry of Finance ranked third by this indicator.
Recall that we previously analysed the most expensive state procurements of the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of ecology. In the next article, we will summarise and reveal details of the procurements of the ministry of energy.
To be continued...