The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo signed agreements yesterday on the allocation of funds to the cantons, in the total amount of 200 million BAM which relate to financial assistance of the FBiH Government to the cantons for structural reforms and financing / co-financing infrastructure projects of importance to the Federation in a ratio of 50 percent to 50 percent.
According to Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, the Government of the Federation of BiH continues to provide strong financial support to cantons, cities and municipalities in this way.
“We are giving these 200 million marks to the cantons for the third time, and we are also giving 39 million to the municipalities. This time, we repackaged it in a certain way and said that half of it is invested in infrastructure of interest to the Federation, and that also refers to connecting entities, cantons, municipalities and cities,” said Novalic.
He emphasized that this is not all they are doing in cooperation with the cantons, and that they have pledged to correct some previous unequal benefits that the cantons, due to their different economic potential, give to their citizens.
“We have raised all obligations that the cantons have serviced differently, such as the case with child allowance, to a higher level. I hope that we and the cantons will continue to cooperate in a good environment for the benefit of our citizens, not only for their economic well-being, but also for justice and equal rights, regardless of which canton they live in,” said Novalic.
Federal Minister of Finance Jelka Milićević said that they were happy to present one of the Government’s policies related to the distribution of funds from the budget for the cantons in financing their regular activities and infrastructure projects of importance to the Federation of BiH.
“Today is an opportunity to strengthen the Economic Reform Program in this way, whose defined goals are transferred to lower levels of government, and are related to public financial management, green transition, digital transformation, business environment and reduction of gray economy, economic integration, energy market , transport, agriculture, industry and services, education, employment and labor market, social protection and inclusion, and health care,” said Milicevic.
Representatives of the cantons that signed the agreements, she said, have pledged to use the funds for structural reforms.
“We also hope that the funds will be used to mitigate the consequences and disturbances in the markets in their communities and institutions, and we sincerely hope that all this will contribute to a slightly better position of the people,” she said.
The Prime Minister of the Bosnian-Podrinje Canton of Gorazde, Aida Obuca, expressed gratitude for this support, adding that she would greatly help the canton to continue the reforms that began in 2019 with the help of the Federation Government, ie to stabilize the cantonal budget. to make life better in the area of that canton.
“We will purposefully spend every amount of allocated funds and ultimately improve the living conditions of all those who live in BPK Gorazde,” said Obuca.
The Prime Minister of the Posavina Canton, Duro Topic, also expressed his gratitude to the Government of the Federation of BiH.
At the session at the end of May this year, the Government of FBiH passed the Decision on the distribution of funds determined by the FBiH budget for 2022 “Current transfers to other levels of government and funds – cantons in the amount of 200,000,000 BAM.
Out of the total amount, and based on the established criteria, Una-Sana Canton has 23,903,093 BAM, Posavina 7,601,971 BAM, Tuzla 38,928,152 BAM, Zenica-Doboj 31,878,226 BAM, Bosnia-Podrinje 4,152,192 BAM, Central Bosnia 22,278 .273 BAM, Herzegovina-Neretva 19,419,727 BAM, West Herzegovina 8,301,059 BAM, Sarajevo 36,178,423 BAM, and Canton 10 the amount of 7,358,882 BAM.