At today’s extraordinary session, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved the Draft Law on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2023. Chairperson and member of the Presidency Željka Cvijanović and Denis Bećirović voted in favor of the budget, while member of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić was against.
As was confirmed to FENA by Komšić’s Cabinet, he was against the salary increase for officials and because this year’s budget did not provide funds for the procurement of equipment for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It was emphasized that the Fiscal Framework did not foresee the possibility of allocating those funds that are necessary for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Failure to allocate these funds jeopardizes the operation of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the coming period, the Cabinet said.
On March 15, the Council of Ministers of BiH unanimously determined the budget in the form of a draft that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury sent to the Presidency of BiH, as the authorized proposer of that legal solution to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, which ultimately adopts that law.
Total revenues, receipts and financing of the institutions of BiH within the budget for 2023 amount to 1,315,400,000 KM, which is an increase of 241.8 million KM compared to the budget of the institutions of BiH for 2022.
The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Borjana Krišto, previously stated that the budget envisages an increase in the base from 535 KM to 600 KM for the next nine months in 2023, and an increase in the holiday allowance from 300 KM to 450 KM.
The Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Tegeltija, today, at a session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed his satisfaction that the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina today approved the Draft Law on the Budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Institutions and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2023 which will be sent to the Parliamentary Assembly.
He expressed hope that “with the active engagement, the budget of the BiH institutions for 2023 can be adopted by the end of the month.”
He said that, as far as salary growth at this level is concerned, the budget law does not deal with the issue of salaries.
He noted that the conclusion of the BiH Council of Ministers was to draft, within the next three months, a new law on salaries that will try to reconcile those inequalities in the law itself.
According to him, today the BiH Presidency also confirmed that conclusion, with the view that it should be done within three months.
Tegeltija believes that these issues should be resolved through a systemic solution, not individual changes, Fena reports.