[citation needed] According to an estimate by the Moscow-based Gaidar Institute [ru], about 21% (3.2 trillion rubles) of the Russian federal budget was "black" (not itemized) in 2015.
Discretionary funds can be used without approval from Parliament or any other state institution and are seen as tools to help the government achieve its goals without spending much time on bureaucratic work.
Before 2015 the covert appropriations were only reserved to state organs and the government, but in March 2015, a regulation granting a discretionary fund for the presidency was passed as part of a government-sponsored omnibus bill in the Turkish Parliament.
At the time, it was claimed by opposition parties, that Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was aiming to gain control of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) with the fund, which was tied to the Prime Ministry back then.
In 2018 Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance estimated that the amount of presidential discretionary funds the President can use between 2019 and 2021 would be TL16.5 billion, 0.5% of total spending in the budget.
With secret code names and hidden figures, the details of the black budget are revealed only to certain people of Congress, if at all.