To mitigate the consequences of rising food prices, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in this year’s proposed FBiH Budget, planned ten times higher allocation for the Federal Directorate of Commodity Reserves compared to all previous years.
Namely, from two million BAM, the budget of this institution, as planned, will be increased to 20 million BAM in 2022.
In addition, as the director of the Federal Directorate of Commodity Reserves Tonco Bavrka informed at a meeting of the FBiH Government, there are currently 30 million BAM of goods available in the Federation of BiH, the Federal Government’s Public Relations Office said.
“With these stocks of goods, as well as the 20 million BAM proposed in the budget, the population of the Federation of BiH has no reason to fear. After the meeting in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH Fadil Novalic, I can confirm that the Federation Government With the existing stocks of wheat, the Federation has enough flour to produce in four months, which means until the next wheat harvest and citizens should not be intimidated by increases in its prices, “said director Bavrka.
He explained that models for the best solutions are being sought, and the Directorate will submit the draft plan to the FBiH Government for adoption by the end of this week.
“We are looking for a mode whether to spend goods from commodity reserves, whether to subsidize flour production, how and in what way to freeze prices, increase stocks and do everything in accordance with legal solutions. A mitigating circumstance is that the FBiH Government’s budget exceeds 100 million BAM. We also have a tendency for wheat prices on the market to fall. By adopting the budget for this year, we will be obliged to act promptly and we hope that it will be adopted soon in the FBiH Parliament, “he added.
He pointed out that in all these ways to protect citizens from the impact of their existence, everyone in the system must respond, from the chain of functioning of public-private partnership, to the contribution that can make the Economic and Social Council for FBiH.
One of the moves may be to put, for example, ten-kilogram packages of flour on the shelves of shopping malls, which will say: “Subsidized flour from the FBiH Government” and we must be sure that this flour will be made available exclusively to the citizens of the Federation.
He also added that he could not provide details on stocks because, as in any other country, according to the FBiH Law on Commodity Reserves, plans, programs, procurement, operations within the Federal Directorate of Commodity Reserves are classified as state secrets.
“But I am sure that with the commitment expressed by the FBiH Government, we can get out of this crisis as painlessly as possible, caused by rising global prices,” Bavrka concluded.
Source: BHRT
