Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded an economic growth of about 3 % last year, according to the annual report of the Directorate for economic planning of the economic trends in BiH in 2015.
According to information, an increase in the physical volume of industrial production by 2.6 % was registered in BiH in the last year, and realized growth was also followed by an increase in the number of employees in this sector of about 1.5 % over the previous year. Industrial growth was mainly due to an increase in production within the processing industry which has a high degree of export orientation, while the contributions of the mining sector and electricity, whose movements are determined by domestic demand, were somewhat weaker.
The average number of employed persons in BiH in 2015 continued to increase and it amounted to 713,690, while unemployment continue to decline and it was decreased by 1.4 % compared to 2014 and it amounted to 541.800. The intensity of reducing unemployment is especially emphasized in the second half of the year.
BiH recorded total exports of goods of 8.9 billion BAM in the last year, which represents a nominal increase of 3.5 % in comparison to the previous year, while the real increase due to a decrease in export prices was slightly higher and it was 3.8 %.
During 2015, total BH imports of goods amounted to about 15.9 billion BAM, which represents nominal decrease of 2.1 %, when compared to the previous year. The foreign trade deficit in 2015 amounted to around 6.9 billion BAM and compared to the previous year, it decreased by 8.7 %.
According to the Report, foreign direct investment in 2015 amounted to 473.158 million BAM, which is by 34.8 % less compared to 2014.
The Council of Ministers of BiH adopted the information of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury on the state of the public indebtedness of BiH on the 31st of December 2015, and it amounts to 11.9 billion BAM, which includes external and internal indebtedness.
According to this information, the external public debt of BiH amounted to around 8.4 billion BAM and it was allocated to the FBiH, the RS, Brcko District of BiH and institutions of BiH.
A total of 400.98 million BAM of approved loan funds have been engaged in 2015, of which 21 % was related to loans whose first withdrawal began last year. Of the total of withdrawn credit funds in 2015, 53.28 % refers to infrastructure projects, 33.71 % refers to the projects that are focused on economic activity, while 13.01 % refers to the public sector.
(Source: Radiosarajevo.ba)
