In the first nine months of this year, the value of exports from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) amounted to 12.65 billion BAM, which is 6.4 percent less than in the same period in 2022, the Agency for Statistics of BiH announced. From January to September, the value of imports amounted to 20.76 billion BAM, the coverage of imports by exports was 60.9 percent, and the foreign trade deficit amounted to 8.11 billion BAM.
The decline in trade with foreign countries is mostly caused by the crisis in the European market and the drop in demand in the European Union (EU) market, especially Germany, on which the BiH economy is largely based, says Aziz Sunje, professor at the University of Sarajevo (UNSA) Faculty of Economics.
Political situation
“The future cannot be anticipated, especially in these times, except in the scenarios that are possible. You see what is happening with Ukraine, the Middle East, when you look at the political situation, this is not going well. In the worst-case scenario, in the event of the conflict spreading, the only thing that will matter is that we survive,” says Professor Dr. Sunje.
When it comes to BiH, the problem is the lack of professional managers, especially in state-owned companies, so it is questionable whether the domestic economy will find alternative markets and compensate for the drop in exports.
State enterprises
“Unfortunately, the demand for the products of the arms industry is very high on a global scale. It is an industry that has a relatively favorable environment, and high profit rates, but when we break it down, we see that in principle, apart from bullets and detonators, we do not produce anything. These are mainly state-owned enterprises, and the problem of state-owned enterprises is generally poor management, controlled by the political parties in power,” points out Professor Dr. Sunje.
According to data from the Agency for Statistics of BiH, exports to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) countries in the first nine months of 2023 amounted to 2.35 billion BAM, which is 5.4 percent less than in the same period last year, while imports amounted to 2.43 billion BAM and is 6 percent lower compared to 2022, Akta reports.
E.Dz.
