BiH’s Council of Ministers has approved the allocation of 300,000 BAM from the current budget reserves to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations for financing the organization of the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The annual meeting will take place in Sarajevo from May 7th until May 9th, 2019, was announced the Council of Ministers of BiH.
Ensuring the remaining necessary funds in the amount of 2.000.000 BAM will be subsequently agreed upon, while the Ministries of Finance and Treasury and Trade and Economic Relations of BiH are in charge of the Decision on the disbursement of these funds.
A small open economy such as Bosnia and Herzegovina’s can reach its full economic potential only by integrating closely with wider regional markets. Regional integration, both physical and commercial, will become even more important in the new strategy period as Bosnia and Herzegovina now has a border with the EU as of 1 July 2013, following Croatia’s accession to the EU. The EBRD will support private investments, increased trade flows and infrastructure improvements deepening regional integration. We will encourage greater private sector involvement in public infrastructure upgrades and put a strong emphasis on improvements of standards towards EU norms.
Public entities and private companies make very inefficient use of existing resources, resulting in unnecessarily high energy costs and significant environmental damage. To support more efficient and sustainable use of resources, the Bank will focus on sustainable energy investments with high demonstration effects. The Bank will provide direct financing for energy and resource efficiency improvements for large corporate clients, both in the private and public sectors, and for the restructuring and commercialisation of municipal utility companies. The Bank will continue an active policy dialogue on sustainable use of resources, using technical assistance, in close cooperation with other donors.
Moderate growth has continued into 2018 as the economy grew in the first half by 2.9 per cent year-on-year. Services, and particularly domestic trade, continued to be the main growth driver, supported by private consumption. Industry also performed well, following the good performance of the previous year. Investment levels recovered after a slowdown in 2017, as adoption of the law on an increase of the fuel excise duties in late-2017 paved the way for a resumption of infrastructure financing. However, reforms have slowed down in 2018 in advance of the general elections held in early October, and the latest review of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme has been on hold because of concerns over new spending proposals in both entities.
