Why is this important
The sharp decrease in transparency of budget documents makes public control over the spending of funds difficult. Overfulfillment of the forecast for “other receipts” by 11 times raises questions about the planning and sources of these revenues. A decrease in the share of social sphere expenditures while debt servicing has increased threefold indicates a redistribution of priorities.
What happened
- City budget revenues increased by 37.7% to 6.79 trillion soums in January-June 2025.
- Other revenues increased 2.7 times to 1 trillion soums, exceeding the plan by 11.4 times;
- Expenditures amounted to 7.72 trillion soums (+24.9%), 89% of the plan was utilized;
- The share of social sphere expenditures decreased from 38.7% to 36.7%;
- Debt servicing has tripled to 742 billion soums.
Income structure
Main sources of receipts:
- Personal income tax — 1.14 trillion soums (+39%);
- Property tax of legal entities — 974 billion (+15.7%);
- Land tax from legal entities — 652 billion (+34.9%);
- Turnover tax — 510 billion (+18.1%);
- Income tax — 502 billion (+34.5%).
These five articles provided more than 70% of the capital’s budget revenues. Local taxes and fees (+68.6%), personal land tax (+47.6%), and personal property tax (+36.8%) showed a sharp increase.
Expenditure structure
- Social sphere — 2.84 trillion soums (+18.7%, 36.7% of all expenditures);
- Healthcare — 1.22 trillion (+16.4%);
- Education — 521 billion (+9.3%), 85% has been mastered;
- Veolia subsidies — 1.43 trillion (+8.1%);
- Subsidies for buses — 535 billion (+31.8%);
- Coverage of metro losses — 390 billion (+34.7%);
- Content of state bodies — 451 billion (+23.9%);
- Debt servicing — 742 billion (+207.8%).
Other expenses: 2.27 trillion soums, of which 1.03 trillion for “other institutions and events” without disclosing details.
Loss of transparency
The Council of People’s Deputies published its decision on budget execution on October 15 — almost a month after the meeting on September 23 — and only after media inquiries. The “plan” and “percentage of assimilation” sections have been removed from the tables. The live broadcast didn’t show the budget discussion.
If previously reports contained details on hundreds of specific projects, then in the last three years, such information is no longer published. From additional sources, the khokimiyat spent 2.1 trillion soums, of which 59% was spent on “other institutions and events” without disclosing the list.
Context
The sharp increase in “other revenues” to 1 trillion soums (with a plan of 88 billion) is likely related to one-time revenues from privatization, state property lease, or transfers. However, the lack of detail does not allow verifying the sources.
The three-fold increase in debt servicing costs (to 742 billion) indicates an increase in the debt burden on the capital. This could be due to attracting loans for infrastructure projects or refinancing old obligations.
The decrease in the share of social expenditures can be explained by the transfer of some functions to the National Agency for Social Protection. However, the low utilization of funds for the construction of healthcare facilities (63%) and the repair of elevators (0.003% of the plan) raises questions about the effectiveness of planning.
The decrease in reporting transparency is due to criticism from the media in 2024, when the administration allocated less funds to the social sphere than planned.
