Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda met on Tuesday with the newly appointed resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in BiH, Andrew Jewel, with whom he spoke about the possibilities of future cooperation.
Minister Bevanda welcomed Jewel and pledged support in his future work on the new post, which he assumed in August from former IMF Resident Representative Francisco Parodi.
Minister Bevanda informed Jewel that the Council of Ministers had so far adopted three quarterly interim financing decisions.
During the meeting, it was stated that the formation of government remains a priority topic in BiH, although almost a year has passed since the general elections, and it was reiterated that concrete cooperation with the IMF awaits a new government.
Speaking about the shortcomings of temporary financing that hinders capital investment, Minister Bevanda said that the best solution would be for the 2019 budget to be adopted by MPs and delegates of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly as soon as possible.
Minister Bevanda emphasized that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH professionally performs its duties and respects the legal deadlines, and that foreign debt servicing is performed in accordance with the repayment schedule and that the institutions of BiH are regularly financed.
During the meeting, interlocutors agreed that talks on future co-operation would be much more concrete after the BiH government formation process was completed in order to fully decide on new projects.
So far, under the extended arrangement between BiH and the IMF, two tranches of around 150 million BAM per tranche have been deposited into the entity’s accounts, with the total value of the credit program amounting to about 1.1 billion BAM.
