According to data published by the European Statistical Office Eurostat, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s gross domestic product per inhabitant last year was as much as 65 percent below the European Union average. Nothing is better when it comes to the actual individual consumption of our citizens, which is also far from the European one. To be precise, 58 percent is below the European Union average. We are also lagging behind the region. It is worse, Eurostat says, only in Albania. However, we are not behind in everything. When it comes to corruption, we hold the convincing first place.
When it comes to GDP per capita, there is no competition with Luxembourg, which has a balance that is two and a half times stronger than the average of the European Union. Ireland is also above average, followed by Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Belgium. The countries of the region also lag behind the average of the Union, but apart from Albania, significantly less than us.
“The best in the region is Slovenia, whose GDP is only 10 percent below the European Union average. Croatia’s GDP is 30%, Montenegro’s 50%, Serbia’s 56% and North Macedonia’s 58% below the European average.
Citizens generally agree with European statistics. They believe that the numbers are perhaps even more devastating for us, but also that there are those whose standard is significantly above the European average.
In the Consumer Protection Association “Don”, they believe that living in our country is even worse than Eurostat data says, because the average salary is lower than our statistics show, and at the same time many things, and even numerous necessities of life, in BiH are more expensive than in Europe.
MURISA MARIĆ, director of the Consumer Protection Association “Don” Prijedor
“If we look only at our consumer basket, which has already exceeded the figure of 2,500 marks, and our average salary is somewhere around a thousand marks, what kind of indicator is that?! What can we pay with that thousand from the consumer basket that has that figure? I think this is an indicator of the real and realistic situation in our country”.
Without foreign investment, few countries can move forward. And in a country like ours, with the highest corruption perception index in Europe, apart from war-torn Russia and Ukraine, it is unlikely that a serious investor will come. This kind of environment attracts mostly dubious businessmen. Transparency International has no doubts about who is most responsible for this state of affairs.
DAMJAN ŽEGOVIĆ, “Transparency international” BiH
“The main culprit for this situation is the judiciary, which should be the last barrier. That is, the judiciary should tackle this phenomenon, and unfortunately we see that it has become the very source of the problem, that is, that our government, and therefore the judiciary, cannot even deal with corruption in its ranks”.
Despite the bad economic indicators, BH economy has survived for years thanks to remittances from abroad. No one thinks about strengthening the real sector, which only creates new value and boosts the economy.
ZORAN PAVLOVIĆ, economic analyst
“The development of the economy and economy of any country requires a strategy, a strategy that is based on raw materials, resources, on advantages compared to neighbors, to other countries. We don’t take that into account anymore. Without a focus on economic growth and development, there is no future for Bosnia and Herzegovina, let alone a better one”.
And in the meantime, the prices of everything continue to increase daily, with the tacit consent of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s authorities that opted for higher price tactics mean higher revenues for the state. Another plan of the politicians for the growth of the domestic economy, which is also being successfully implemented, is for a considerable number of our citizens to join the numerous diaspora in Europe and the world, and for all of them to send money to those who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
