The Sarajevo Canton Assembly has adopted the Cantonal Budget for the current year, in a record amount of over 1.88 billion BAM.
In November last year, the Draft Cantonal Budget for 2025 was adopted with an amount exceeding 1.47 billion BAM.
The change in fiscal laws at the level of the Federation of BiH at the end of last year, namely the increase in the minimum and average federal salary, inevitably affected the increase in numerous cantonal expenditures that are legally based on the new federal bases. This is one of the reasons for the increase in the Cantonal Budget proposal.
Also, the adoption of the Cantonal Budget was preceded by a broad public debate in which 131 entities from almost all areas under the jurisdiction of the Cantonal Government participated, after which the requested increase in own revenues, donations and transfers of budget users occurred.
Cantonal Minister of Finance Afan Kalamujić, as the person responsible for drafting this document, also addressed the expenditure increases based on collective agreements.
“I would like to point out that the Cantonal Government has decided to increase the base for all budget users from 385 BAM to 400 BAM, which has increased the total position of gross salaries and contributions in this Budget. The biggest difference between the Proposal and the Draft concerns the delimitation of 270 million BAM. This concerns projects carried over from last year, or rather transferred credit funds of 127 million BAM. 84 million of earmarked funds were transferred, 12 million of the University of Sarajevo’s own revenues, 500 thousand BAM of donations, 34 million of transfers, and slightly more than 12 million BAM of other receipts. Also, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed the allocation of funds to the cantons. Delimited revenues are 124 million higher than in the Draft Budget, because budget users transferred more funds than the expected amounts we projected in the Draft Budget,” Kalamujić emphasized.
This budget plans an accumulated deficit of 43 million BAM, which includes 3.4 million BAM for payment of executive court judgments, and 40 million is intended to cover the deficit from previous years in accordance with legal regulations. If there are funds, we will try to raise the amount for payments under final court decisions, Kalamujić emphasized.
Regarding the debt on foreign loans, there have been changes and increases compared to the Draft in the areas of communal economy, spatial planning, environmental protection, for the reconstruction of the water supply system, and further continuation of the construction of transport infrastructure. At the same time, some projects are being deleted from the Budget due to unpreparedness for implementation, such as Sarajevo District Heating – District Heating, where a debt of 20 million BAM was planned. Also, the refinancing of the existing debt in the amount of 50 million euros that was planned through a debt through the World Bank is being deleted, due to unfavorable conditions for the Canton.
“This year, the Government has committed to strictly monitoring the implementation of the Budget in both revenue and expenditure, and we will proceed with the budget rebalance, either upwards or downwards, in order to align it with the real situation and fiscal trends,” said Kalamujić.
