There is about a month left until the moment when there is due for obligations from the Vienna Stock Exchange for Republika Srpska (RS) entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and when it will have to pay a debt of almost 400 million BAM.
The maturity date of bonds that were sold on the Vienna Stock Exchange is on June 28th, and the RS Government claims that they are ready for this and that the funds for payment are planned in the entity’s budget.
“We will repay that debt as planned, that is, on June 28th, and we will continue to work normally and that is what we planned in the budget,” said RS Finance Minister Zora Vidovic.
She asserted that the RS has great potential in energy, as well as that investments in that area are expected in the coming period.
“One of the first investments is the start of the construction of the ‘Dabar’ hydroelectric power plant, and it is a big project. The ‘Bistrica’ hydroelectric power plant near Foca is also under construction, and we are also interested in solar energy,” claims Vidovic.
She claims that the public debt of this entity amounts to 34.7 percent, and that more than 290,000 workers are currently employed.
“Direct taxes are growing by 16 percent, but indirect taxes are much lower and there are several things that caused the republic’s budget to receive less funds, as well as the local communities,” said Vidovic.
Also, she said that in four months of this year, due to the increased budget of BiH and the amendment of the Tobacco Excise Act, municipalities in the RS received 17 million BAMless VAT, and the republic’s budget was 46.5 million BAM.
She concluded that all this will not affect regular payments from the republic budget, as well as that alternative sources can always be looked for through savings, which, according to her, have been made since the time of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking about the auction of treasury bills, Vidovic said that the Government of the RS has a repayment for treasury bills of 50 million BAM, and the sale of 25 million BAM was announced, which, as she asserted, “is a normal situation that was planned and conceived in budget”.
All in all, the business with bonds on the Vienna Stock Exchange and the repayment of that debt is one of the bigger expenses when it comes to this year, especially when we know that the government of this entity has given serious guarantees.
Namely, there is a clause that defined that in the event that the issuer of the bonds is unable to pay the bondholders the money, they will have the right to confiscate any company or firm in which the majority owner is the Government, with a minimum stake of 51 percent, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
