CashNews.co
Evaluations on the 2023 Audit Report of the Court of Accounts
According to the audit report of the Court of Accounts for 2023, the Defense Industry Support Fund (SSDF) was established to provide continuous and stable resources in order to ensure the modernization of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and to strengthen the modern defense industry. The resources of this fund are used for the modernization needs of the TAF, as well as urgent needs in the field of intelligence and security, in line with the decisions determined by the Defense Industry Executive Committee. In this context, the requirements of the General Directorate of Security, the General Command of Gendarmerie, the Coast Guard Command and the National Intelligence Organization are also taken into consideration.
It is aimed that the financing of the projects carried out under the responsibility of the Presidency of Defense Industries will be covered mainly from this fund.
Transfers from the Budget
Every year, billions of liras are allocated from the general budget for security and defense expenditures. For example, in the eight-month period covering January-August 2023, the total amount of materials, service purchases, construction works and expenses for security and defense was 28.5 billion TL. During this period, a total of 4.8 billion TL was spent on this item in August.
During this eight-month period, the shares allocated from the budget under the title of current transfers were transferred to the SSDF. The share given was 91.3 billion TL. Last year, a total of 55.5 billion TL was spent from the budget for security and defense. Again, last year, under the main heading of current transfers, the total amount transferred to SSDF in line with the shares allocated from revenues was recorded as 90.4 billion TL. The transfer made in eight months of this year has exceeded the total of last year.
Although the government announced that “not even a penny” would go to the budget from the “contributions” to be received for the defense industry, it is emphasized that this regulation will indirectly affect the total expenses in the budget. It is stated that the decrease in defense and security expenses to be made from the budget will contribute to the improvement of the budget deficit.