Nearly 21 Billion Tenge Paid To Foreigners And The Dead: Labor Ministry Responds

Kazakhstan’s Labor Ministry has explained pension payments to foreigners totaling 20.8 billion tenge, Orda.kz reports.

The Supreme Audit Chamber inspected the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection for the period from 2020 to 2024. The inspection revealed pension payments to 67,000 foreign citizens totaling 20.8 billion tenge.

Labor and Social Protection Minister Askarbek Yertayev announced this at a government briefing. At the same time, he did not explain why part of the money now has to be returned. According to him, the pensions were received by foreign citizens who had worked in Kazakhstan, but he did not clarify why the state is now seeking repayment.

Of this amount, 57,000 people have returned 13.5 billion tenge. To date, the state corporation Government for Citizens is working to recover the remaining debt — about six billion tenge from 4,400 foreign citizens. As for payments to deceased and missing persons, the court wrote off about 500 million tenge, since about 120 citizens died here,Yertayev said at a government briefing.

The minister separately explained why Kazakhstan pays pensions to foreigners. According to him, the country is party to an international agreement under which a foreign citizen who worked in Kazakhstan and made pension contributions has the right to receive a pension.

If a foreign citizen works in Kazakhstan, makes contributions, and retires, we are obliged to pay them a pension,Yertayev said.

He added that the same principle applies to Kazakhstanis. Citizens of Kazakhstan can receive a pension from another state if they worked and retired there.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov

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