Audit office finds €135 million in losses and negative effects in 2025 budget execution, issues qualified conclusion

The Supreme State Audit (KLSH) has issued a qualified conclusion on the execution of the 2025 state budget, finding significant departures from legal requirements in planning, execution and reporting. According to an annex to the report cited by Monitor magazine, audits identified 171.9 million lek in economic damage and 12.3 billion lek in negative financial effects, about 12.5 billion lek in total, or roughly €135 million.

Contracts beyond available funds

The biggest problem concerns public investment. In 44 cases, procurement procedures were launched for contracts worth 16.8 billion lek even though the available funds were lower. In 39 other projects, commitments exceeded approved funds by 4.28 billion lek. The KLSH also found advance payments of 1.15 billion lek for three projects without supporting documentation; in two of them the advance reached 20% of the contract, against a permitted ceiling of 10%.

The report also cites split procurement, winners who did not meet the criteria, failure to apply penalties, and payments for work not done or without supporting documents.

Investments without projects, plan revised after the deadline

In 2025, investment funds of 5.26 billion lek were opened without being assigned to concrete projects, while 188 projects with 3.59 billion lek planned had no spending at all by year's end. Capital spending came in 25.45 billion lek below the final plan, mainly because of delays in foreign-financed projects.

The KLSH recorded 28,412 changes to budget lines from 3,106 revisions, about 17% of them in December. More than 20% of annual spending took place in the final month alone, and the 2025 plan was revised as late as February 2026. The report also notes a significant increase in the stock of tax and customs arrears.