Excise duties on oil and oil derivatives should be suspended at the level of BiH in order to stop the rise in prices, said the Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Radovan Viskovic after a meeting with businessmen.
He stressed that the Republika Srpska is ready to propose this at a meeting with BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Zoran Tegeltija and FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalic scheduled for March 10th.
They also expressed readiness to freeze and price flour in the Republika Srpska.
The Government of the Republika Srpska (RS) has made a decision on the intervention procurement of a certain amount of basic foodstuffs, for which, as they said, about 15 million BAM will be allocated.
Even though, as Suzana Gasic, RS Minister of Trade and Tourism, said, the market is stable and all local communities are supplied with consumer goods, the RS government “wants to be ready for all possible situations in which RS may find itself”.
“Looking at the events around us, we decided to procure certain quantities of mercantile wheat, oil, sugar, rice, salt, canned food – meat products and the like, as well as fuel and oil derivatives,” Gasic said.
According to her, such activities have been carried out for two years, since the beginning of the pandemic, and she reminded that limited margins for basic foodstuffs and for fuel and oil derivatives are in force.
“The prices of gas, oil, and petroleum products on the world market are rising and we cannot influence that. What we can doand what we have already done is to limit margins in accordance with our laws. It would not make sense to lower margins further because we do not want to cause negative effects in terms of artificial shortages, “Gasic stated.
This measure should not scare citizens, said RS Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management Boris Pasalic. The goal, he says, is to be ready for possible interruptions in supply chains.
“Currently, we have more than 15.000 tons of wheat in 16 silos in RS, which is enough for two and a half months without a single grain of wheat entering RS,” told Pasalic.
