Kazakhstan is set to strengthen
control over the activities of quasi-public sector entities, to streamline the
budgetary process and to halve its time, as well as to carry out the
development and approval of development plans for regional government bodies
once every three years in the country. These and other norms are provided in
the draft of the new Budget Code, which was approved by the Mazhilis members in
the first reading. Kazakh Minister of National Economy Alibek Kuantyrov
presented the draft to the MPs, noting that the amendments envisage the
introduction of a block budget model, following the example of Singapore, at
the same time taking into account the peculiarities of Kazakhstan’s public
administration system. The minister emphasized that these innovations are
necessary to increase the flexibility of the Kazakh budget. Besides, state
agencies are granted freedom in managing budgetary funds with the amendments.
Overall, the draft of the new Budget Code, which will be based on risks
considering global challenges and their analysis enabling the timely
implementation of necessary measures, envisages a long-term forecast for the
country’s development up to 10 years ahead. It is expected that MPs will
consider the document in the second reading next spring.
“This will significantly reduce
the burden on the budget because, as part of implementing elements of the block
budget, recurring expenses will not need to be re-entered. They will be
included in the database in the first year and will only be indexed if
necessary. This accounts for nearly 60 percent of the budget. A budget request
enables all managers of budgetary programs to apply for 24 trillion tenge,
about 60 percent of which, or around 13 trillion tenge, will not need to be
resubmitted next year as they will be included in the database,” said Kuantyrov.
