Kazakhstan's spending on public debt servicing reached 2.1 trillion tenge in the first half of 2026, up 26.3% year-on-year. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

At the same time, the public debt itself grew much slower – by 14.7%, to 40.9 trillion tenge. These data are provided by the Analytical Center of the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan (AFK).

As a result, debt servicing accounted for about 11% of all budget expenditures, compared to 9.6% a year earlier. Public debt is about 22% of the country's projected GDP.

The AFK attributes the outpacing growth in debt servicing costs not only to the increase in debt, but also to the higher cost of new borrowings under tight interest rate conditions.

The structure of budget financing has changed noticeably. The guaranteed transfer from the National Fund decreased from 3.1 trillion to 1.9 trillion tenge over the year – by 1.2 trillion tenge. Against this backdrop, the state began to use debt financing more actively. The volume of new borrowings in the first half of the year increased from 3.4 trillion to 3.7 trillion tenge.

The consolidated budget deficit, on the contrary, decreased – from 2.9 trillion to 2.4 trillion tenge. This corresponds to approximately 1.3% of the projected GDP for 2026.

The AFK notes that the reduction in the use of National Fund money is gradually being replaced by more expensive market financing. Because of this, the budget becomes more sensitive to interest rates, and an increasing share of expenditures is required to service the accumulated debt.

The state began to collect significantly more taxes. In January–June, total tax revenues increased by 15.2% and reached 14.4 trillion tenge. A year earlier, the growth rate was 11.2%. However, almost the entire additional volume was provided by the republican budget. Its tax revenues increased by 1.9 trillion tenge, or 29.8%.

Revenues to the National Fund, meanwhile, decreased by 1%, and to local budgets – by 0.3%. About 95% of the growth in tax revenues of the republican budget was provided by only three sources. VAT revenues increased by 1.2 trillion tenge, or 43.1%, CIT – by 328 billion tenge, or 16.1%, non-oil MET – by 320 billion tenge, or 59.9%.

Another factor in the increase in revenues was the expansion of the formal tax base. In the first half of the year, about 546 thousand previously unregistered individuals legalized their activities. The number of business entities, including self-employed, increased by more than 499 thousand and reached 2.9 million.

The number of VAT payers amounted to 158.2 thousand. According to analysts, the involvement of previously unaccounted economic activity potentially makes tax revenues more sustainable.

Total expenditures of the republican and local budgets increased by 8.6%, to 19 trillion tenge. A year earlier, growth was 13.3%. At the same time, capital expenditures decreased by 9.9%, while current obligations and financial operations are beginning to play an increasing role.

In the republican budget, in addition to debt servicing, spending on social assistance and provision increased significantly – by 387 billion tenge, or 12.9%, as well as on defense – by 307 billion tenge, or 73.6%. In local budgets, spending on loan repayment increased by 172 billion tenge, or 2.9 times, transfers – by 153 billion tenge, or 46%, housing and communal services – by 143 billion tenge, or 16.4%.