The Ministries of Public Works and Defence have already spent two-thirds of their projected budgets for 2026 under the General Budget of the Republic, and were among the 67 government bodies with the highest levels of budget execution at the end of the first quarter. The Ministry of Public Administration, Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Youth and Sport recorded expenditure levels not exceeding 2 per cent.

According to the budget implementation report, the Ministry of Public Works, Urban Planning and Housing has already spent 580.6 billion of the 891.9 billion allocated in the 2026 General State Budget, which translates to 65 per cent of the expenditure projected for the whole year having been spent in just three months. The same was true of the Ministry of National Defence, Former Combatants and Veterans: in just three months, it has already spent 409.8 billion of the 629.1 billion allocated for the whole year, representing an execution rate of 65 per cent.

Among government bodies – which include sovereign bodies, ministerial departments, provincial governments and other state bodies – these lead the way in terms of budget execution. To prevent further overspending by the end of 2026, the Ministry of Public Works has 311.3 billion Kz remaining, and the Ministry of Defence has 219.3 billion Kz remaining.

The Supreme Court, having spent 58 per cent of its budgeted expenditure for the whole year, rounds off the top three state bodies with the highest expenditure rates in the first quarter. Such high rates of spending against the full-year budget in a single quarter generally lead to substantial overspending later in the year, forcing the Government to increase allocations to these bodies. In the case of Defence, this has been standard practice. The implementation report does not reveal the reasons for such high levels of expenditure over a short period, but a look at the table relating to the Public Investment Programme (PIP) gives some insight. In the first quarter, expenditure under the National Defence PIP function amounted to 139.2 billion Kz, whilst in the social sector, the Housing and Social Services function – which covers projects from various ministries, including Public Works and Energy and Water – has already consumed a total of…

*Source: Expansão