The Association of Employers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina expresses dissatisfaction with the decision of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to limit, and in essence, increase the price of electricity by 20 percent for companies in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the year 2024.
“With the Law on Electricity in FBiH, many companies will switch from public to market supply, which will make Elektroprivreda BiH additionally earn between 25 and 28 million BAM. But that is obviously not enough, so all the problems of Elektroprivreda BiH’s operations will be transferred to the burden of the economy, that is, the citizens,” pointed out Adnan Smailbegović, president of UPFBiH.
He reminds that in the previous two years, the price of electricity for companies in the FBiH has already risen by 44 percent, and with the latest price increase, that price increase will amount to about 72.8 percent.
“Businessmen in the FBiH are facing another unnecessary levy that further worsens the business environment in the FBiH and will probably cause a decline in economic activities in the coming year,” points out Smailbegović.
UPFBiH welcomes the fact that the Government of FBiH partly accepted the demands of employers and unions from the real sector and enabled the payment of two average salaries to employees in the real sector in the first six months of the next year, without paying taxes and contributions to this payment.
“This is the result of our activities and lobbying in the relevant ministries in the FBiH Government throughout this year. Of course, we would be more satisfied if the salary increase for workers up to 400 BAM, with the minimum payment of taxes and contributions, was realized during this year, as we requested. We invite all members, as well as employers who are not members of the UPFBiH, to start paying the non-taxable part of the salary already in February of the following year,” points out Smailbegović.
We expect that as soon as possible the Government of FBiH will propose and the Parliament of FBiH will adopt laws on contributions and income tax, which will significantly reduce the burden on salaries, so that from the middle of next year we will have a significant reduction in labor costs, UPFBiH emphasizes.
