Francisco Parodi, the Resident Representative of the IMF in BiH says that the arrangement with BiH is not questionable.
However, it is clear that the payment of the second tranche of 150 million BAM could be postponed until the authorities fulfill everything that was agreed in November.
“To recall, the staff of the IMF reached an agreement in principle in November with the authorities on policies needed for the Executive Board of the IMF to consider the approval of the first review under the EFF arrangement, and which would result in the release of the second tranche in the amount of about 155 million BAM. The authorities are working on the implementation of measures that are necessary for the release of the second tranche since November. When these conditions are met, the Executive Board of the IMF will meet to discuss the first review. Meanwhile, the staff of the IMF and the government will continue with the constructive cooperation within the program,” said Parodi.
Due to the failure to adopt the Law on Excise Tax, the funds that are planned in the entity budgets will remain blocked, but the IMF leaves the possibility for authorities to agree. There are no deadlines because all of them are already broken.
This means that BiH will remain in the arrangement, so the scenario from 2014 when the IMF withdrew because of the failure to adopt the Law on Labor, will not happen again.
Most of the problems are regarding the increase in excise duties on fuel. Entity ministers of finance do not want to talk on this topic after the fiasco in Mostar at the meeting of the Board of ITA, and there are indications that this law will be adopted on the emergency procedure after the agreement is reached with the Board of ITA.
(Source: nap.ba)
