The proposed budget of institutions and international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2024 will be at the level of last year and will amount to more than one billion and 315 million marks. This was confirmed by the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Srđan Amidžić. And, he says, it’s not about political attitudes, but numbers. The novelty is that there will be less money for 43 budget users.
DŽENAN ĐONLAGIĆ, delegate in the House of Peoples of the PSBiH (DF)
“Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions will not receive a budget for 2024 in the regular budget procedure, so the state is going for temporary financing.”
This is a good old practice when it comes to the budget of BiH institutions. Although the opposition blames the rulers for not adopting the budget in the regular procedure, the rulers are not worried. The form of temporary financing is not unknown, but the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH Srđan Amidžić believes that the budget should have been adopted on time. He says that the Ministry completed its legal obligations back in December, but there was no will. The new minister is also introducing a new practice – less budget funds for 43 budget beneficiaries.
SRĐAN AMIDŽIĆ, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH (SNSD)
“We presented ourselves with a smaller budget by two million 486 thousand marks, and when it comes to reduction, we are in third place on that ranking list, or 18.1 percent. We proposed to reduce the budget of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH and, immediately I’m telling you, everything will work out.”
Although the Minister of Defense Zukan Helez asked for an increase in the budget for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Minister Amidžić says that the Ministry of Defense spends money like 67 other budget users. However, he says, the funds in this ministry will be minimally reduced, only 2.5 percent. Less funds are possible for other ministries as well.
NENAD NEŠIĆ, Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina
“I think that when Minister Amidžić was thinking about downsizing, he was thinking about all the ministries, and I think that he does not approach selectively and that he does not look at who heads which ministry.”
And all this, the relevant minister states, because BiH is unsustainable from an economic point of view, and because it needs to behave in an economically sustainable manner. It is clear, he says, that it is a consumer budget, because most of the money goes to fees and salaries. An example of this is the budget from 2023, and it is futile to believe that it can be different in the new year.
SRĐAN AMIDŽIĆ, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH (SNSD)
“963 million 346 thousand BAM as expenditure goes to gross wages and benefits, what do we pay? And, capital expenditures are only 90 million 555 thousand BAM. People, we spend a billion marks on salaries”.
It is so clear – there is no budget in the regular procedure, and many expected it. This is also said by the president of the HDZ BiH, for whom, he says, the budget is the question of all questions. But a common position was missing.
DRAGAN ČOVIĆ, Deputy Speaker of the House of Peoples PSBiH (HDZBiH)
“I hope that in the middle of the first month we will have a regular session where we will also have the budget of the BiH institutions, for me the most important issue at this moment. We had to finish it by the end of the year”.
Thus, the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina enter the New Year with temporary funding, and there are few years when the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina adopt the budget on time.
