Kazakh MP criticizes government practice of taking new loans to pay off old ones

The practice of the government taking new loans to repay existing ones in Kazakhstan has intensified, reported Mazhilis deputy Azat Peruashev. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

"Year after year, 36% of new debts were borrowed to repay previous debts under the principle of 'paying off a loan with a new loan.' In 2025, the volume of such refinancing rose to 51%," he said during the discussion of the government and Supreme Audit Chamber's report on the execution of the republican budget for 2025.

According to the National Bank, by the end of 2025, Kazakhstan's external debt reached a record high of nearly $182 billion. Over the year, the country's external debt increased by 10.4%. This is the largest growth in the last 17 years, Peruashev noted.

The deputy recalled that when approving the draft budget for 2024-2026, the government announced a plan to completely abandon targeted transfers from the National Fund starting in 2025.

"Although this decision was later revised, there was hope that the National Fund's expenditures would at least decrease. But in fact, in 2025, significant volumes of withdrawals from the National Fund were maintained (5.3 trillion tenge — Kursiv). At the same time, the return to the National Fund of unused targeted transfers allocated from the National Fund in 2025 was not carried out due to lack of funds," he said.

Instead, in 2024-2025, over 200 projects were financed for the improvement of streets, parks, construction of rural clubs, and other facilities.

"Such an attitude towards the National Fund's funds can hardly be called rational. Nevertheless, the National Fund's assets increased over the year to $73.8 billion, even against the backdrop of a shortfall in tax revenues of 1.1 trillion tenge," Peruashev said.

Another problem he considers is the increase in spending on the social sphere and the lag in investments in the real sector. In particular, financing of the social sector last year rose to 10.1 trillion tenge, while spending on the real sector of the economy amounted to 2.2 trillion tenge.