Child benefit in the FBiH could be amounting to 14 BAM per month, according to Vecernji List.
The new family law is in the preparation, and it should equalize the rights of children in the whole territory of this entity since the cantons are individually deciding on the payment of this benefit, as well as on the amount. Thus, out of the 10 cantons, half of them do not have a regulated child benefit, four of them only partially allocate funds for that purposes, and only Canton Sarajevo fulfills all legal obligations. Although the predicted amount of monthly child benefit is low in comparison to neighboring countries, there will be needed a lot of funds from the federal budget for the introduction of this allowances. Since the law is in preparation, several options for paying these types of benefits was offered.
According to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the total cost of the new law on the protection of families with children, with the option where the right on child allowance is granted to all children under the age of 18 in the amount of 14.38 BAM, a total of 86,441.014 BAM should be allocated on the level of the FBiH and cantons.
“The law would cover a total of 452,710 beneficiaries in FBiH. Most of the funds, 79,167.054 BAM or 91.6 %, would come from the budget of FBiH, which would cover 443,666 or 98 % of all beneficiaries,” according to the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
When it comes to the other option, the total costs of the Law on Protection of Families with children, in which the right on the child benefit have families that qualify for minimum social security in accordance with the Law on Social Protection, on the level of FBiH and cantons should be allocated a total of 20,685.814 BAM . The law would cover 76,264 beneficiaries in FBiH. Most of the funds, 13,411.854 BAM or 64.8 %, would come from the budget of FBiH, which would cover 67,220 or 88.1 % of all beneficiaries.
According to this option, the right on child benefit would have all the children under the age of 19, thus it would be practiced as the universal right to child allowance. Therefore, all unemployed pregnant women would have the right on the maternity benefits. From the official estimates that were made, it is evident that in the period from 2016 to 2018, public expenditure on all unemployed pregnant women amounted to about 7.7 million BAM per year, and at all inactive pregnant women about 10 million BAM per year, which means that total public expenditure for all the unemployed and inactive pregnant women were around 18 million BAM per year. Under this option, all unemployed new mothers have right on the one-time help for the newborn baby.
(Source: fokus.ba)
