The Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srđan Amidžić, said that the ministry headed by him has taken it upon himself to draft the budget proposal for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the next year, which will be reduced compared to this year’s, but, as he said, implies the smooth functioning of all institution at the level of BiH.
“It also implies respect for the fact that real life takes place in entities, cantons and municipalities, so we approached it in a rational way, we asked the budget users to say which items are where a certain rationalization can be done,” said Amidžić.
He explained that both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international economic experts indicated that the costs of public spending in BiH institutions should be reduced, given that they are growing from year to year.
According to him, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina did an analysis that showed a trend of rising costs, which was unjustified.
Amidžić stated that “during the discussion on cost reduction, the budget beneficiaries behaved as if it had to be given to them”, and added that the Ministry is obliged to propose a budget that implies the fulfillment of criteria, i.e. cost reduction.
“That budget will probably not be liked by a large number of budget users. If they refuse to adhere to these principles, they have decided that joint institutions in BiH will not have a budget for the next year, that is, to enter into temporary financing,” said Amidžić.
When it comes to the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, Amidžić said that the proposed budget of this ministry this year was 13.77 million BAM, and added that for the next year, he will propose a budget smaller by 1.5 million BAM.
“If we could reduce costs by almost 10 percent and not feel anything, I don’t think it’s rude when we ask other budget users to make that three percent correction and we can continue to function normally,” said Amidžić, Srna reports.
