Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda and finance ministers of the FBiH and the RS, Jelka Milicevic and Zoran Tegeltija, yesterday held joint meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Nadeem Ilahi.
The meeting with finance ministers was held in the framework of the visit of the IMF mission, which is carrying out its first review, after they approved a new arrangement and paid the first tranche to entities.
Given the fact that the finance ministers are also members of the Governing Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority (UNIO) of BiH, one of the topics of discussion were the amendments to the Law on Excise Duties in BiH, where it was emphasized that introduction of excise duties on oil and oil derivatives by 15 fenings per liter for the construction of highways and roads in BiH was a good solution, which guarantees the continuation of committed credit arrangements for this purpose.
It was emphasized that an extra effort should be made to ensure the adoption of these legislative solutions in the field of excise duties in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, and in order to resolve issues of settlement between entities when it comes to indirect taxes.
Ministers of finance informed the members of the IMF Mission on the activities that are in progress when it comes to adopting the budget for next year and continuation of the implementation of savings measures in public spending.
At the meeting was noted that good cooperation between the ministries of finance requires the support of other institutions of the executive and the legislature in order to ensure systematic solutions in the area of financial and fiscal stability.
The IMF Mission is staying in BiH from the 9th of November until the 22nd of November 2016 as part of the first examination after they paid the first tranche of 150 million BAM, and the total value of new credit program is about one billion BAM.
They all agreed that it is necessary to continue with implementation of structural reforms at all levels of government, as well as programs with international financial institutions that are supporting reform processes, such as the World Bank, and the European Union.
(Source: klix.ba)
