Toktakunov noted that since Japarov took office, Kumtor’s total revenue has amounted to $5.1 billion, and net profit has exceeded $2 billion.

«I recently read online that someone wrote: ’Kumtor has become ours, but own spoon hasn’t become golden.’ What is the money spent on?» the journalist asked.

The President laughed at the question, but he answered how Kumtor’s money is spent.

«If $1 billion worth of gold is mined at Kumtor annually, half of that goes toward mine maintenance. Gold isn’t mined for free. So, only half of that money is net profit. The other half, sometimes more, sometimes less, goes toward mine development, salaries, taxes, spare parts, diesel fuel, and so on. The rest is net profit, and it goes directly to the state,» the head of state said.

He then explained how this profit is spent. According to him, this money is used to build houses from the State Mortgage Company, build schools and kindergartens, and repair roads.

«The State Mortgage Company builds houses for $3 billion. Where does this money come from? If they built 100 schools in 30 years, then we built 500 schools and kindergartens in 5 years. Do you see this or not? Who has financed this? It’s Kumtor’s money. Last year we built 1,500 kilometers of roads, and this year we want to increase that to 2,000. The maximum we had built before was 250 kilometers of roads in the summer—that was during Bakiyev’s time. And we’ve built two thousand kilometers. What kind of money is this, in your opinion? We’re raising pensions and benefits, right? When I took office, the minimum pension was 700 soms, now it’s 7,000, and soon it will be 8,800. This is all money from Kumtor,» Sadyr Japarov said.