Apparently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is already thinking about the termination of the extended arrangement with BiH. The Minister of Finance of the RS Zoran Tegeltija already told the media that he already received such a warning from the IMF.
“If the minister Tegeltija said that, it is probably true that he received such a signal from the IMF. After all, he is the Minister of Finance of the RS, as well as a member of the Governing Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority,” said the adviser to Prime Minister of FBiH Goran Mirascic.
The biggest “stumbling rock” for the payment of the next tranche of the loan agreement with the IMF are still changed to the Law on Excise Tax. More specifically, it is about changes in excise duties on fuel and their increasing by 15 pfennigs per liter, of which 10 pfennig should be forwarded directly to the construction of highways, or to be exact public companies Highways of the FBiH and Motorways of the RS, while 5 pfennig should be forwarded to construction and maintenance of roads of lower rank managed by Roads of FBiH and Roads of the RS.
“Besides the increase of excise tax, it is necessary to reach an agreement on the distribution of income from these excise taxes between entities. But I expect that in the next month we will be able to reach an agreement on amendments to the Law on Excise Tax and the distribution of income. According to my knowledge, it is necessary to even a decision on the allocations for salaries at the state level,” added Mirascic.
According to him, the fulfillment of previous measures for authorizing payment of a new tranche of credit is almost completed on the level of the FBiH.
“The Law on Banks should be adopted in the House of Peoples of the FBiH. Amendments to the Law on the Banking Agency were adopted in different texts in both Houses, so we should implement a compliance procedure. However, the most important condition is the conclusion of a contract with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the deep financial analysis of the company BH Telecom and HT Mostar and the Prime Minister, Fadil Novalic should sign the contract next week,” said Mirascic.
The value of the extended arrangement with the IMF is 1,077 billion and it was planned for it to be paid over a period of three years. However, only one installment was paid in September last year, amounting to about 154 million BAM, of which two-thirds went to the FBiH, and one-third to the RS.
(Source: faktor.ba)
