Investment in defence sector decreased by 37%
State budget expenditures for country's defence in January-August 2019 amounted to 373 billion tenge, having increased by 8.9% per year. This is 4.4% of the total cost of the State budget of Kazakhstan. For the same period last year, 342 billion tenge was allocated for defence, annual growth was 31.4%, Finprom.kz reports.
In general, the expenditures on defence reached 542.1 billion tenge in 2018 - an increase of 19.8% compared to the previous year (452.4 billion tenge).
At that, in future Kazakhstan will reduce defence spending. According to Vice Minister of Finance Berik Sholpankulov, during the presentation of the three-year budget in the Mazhilis, to ensure the defence and security of the State, the rule of law and maintaining internal stability, protecting the population and sustainability of management in crisis situations for a three-year period, 4.3 trillion tenge are provided, out of them for 2020 - 1.5 trillion tenge. This is 11.4% of the country's GDP. Expenditures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan will amount to 394.1 billion tenge, special government agencies - 375.1 billion tenge, the Ministry of Defence - 331.8 billion tenge, the state defence order - 276.2 billion tenge, General Prosecutor’s Office - 31.9 billion tenge.
However, according to the Vice Minister of Finance, in 2021 the costs of power structures are planned to be reduced to 1.4 trillion tenge, which is 10.7% of the country's GDP. Of these, the expenses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will amount to 388.7 billion tenge, the state defence order - 374.8 billion tenge, the Ministry of Defence - 314.8 billion tenge, special government agencies - 256.3 billion tenge, General Prosecutor's Office - 28.6 billion tenge.
Meanwhile, over the eight months of this year, investments aimed at public administration, defence and compulsory social security have decreased by 37.2% per year, to 18.7 billion tenge. For comparison: in the same period a year earlier, investments grew by 23.5% per year and reached 29.7 billion tenge.
Most of the investments aimed at defence, public administration and social security account for the capital: 3.8 billion tenge (a year earlier - 1.7 billion tenge). The top 3 regions also included Atyrau and Karaganda regions - 3.2 billion and 2.3 billion tenge, respectively.
