Members of the Jogorku Kenesh Outraged by Tourism Expenditure Article

Deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh outraged by the tourism expenditure item

A difficult conversation took place between the Minister of Finance of Kyrgyzstan and the deputies of the Jogorku Kenesh on Tuesday, November 14.

Adylbek Kasymaliev attended the meeting of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation, State Structure, Judicial and Legal Issues, and Regulations. During the discussion of financial activities, one of the deputies asked how the planned budget funds for the development of tourism in the republic are allocated. The Minister replied that the money for this item is being transferred, but not in full, as the 50 million soms allocated for these purposes simply do not exist. The official's response evoked mixed emotions among the elected representatives. Deputy Almambet Shikmamotov directly pointed out that he sees no sense in the resolutions, which he called populist, and asked why, in this case, with a lack of funds, the decision on expenditures for this item, previously adopted by the Jogorku Kenesh, is not canceled.

The same question was raised regarding expenditures for the judicial system. By law, about 2% of budget funds are supposed to be allocated for this, but in reality, the situation is quite different. Here, Minister Kasymaliev had a response, stating that he had already proposed to abolish this norm, but the parliament did not support him. At the same time, no proposals on what to do about the lack of funds for the development of tourism were voiced during the dialogue.