”Since the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH)exists, this is nominally the largest budget because it amounts to 5.6 billion BAM and is higher by 116 million BAM or two percent compared to the previous year,” Jelka Milicevic, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance FBiH, said in an interview with agency Fena.
In the upcoming days, both houses of the Federal Parliament are expected to comment on the proposed budget, and Minister Milicevic emphasized that its growth for this year is due to the fact that all government projections plan higher revenues this year, totaling 4.471 billion BAM, of which 2.218 billion are contribution revenues.
”Of the total amount of revenue, tax revenue accounts for 83.5 percent. The missing funds of 16.5 percent, or 920 million BAM, are short-term and long-term sources of financing. In our budget, we used the reserves we had, which is about 208 million BAM, which refers to the accumulated surplus from previous years, and special funds in sub-accounts, which are earmarked funds for the construction of road infrastructure. So, we have created the preconditions to control the situation in a certain way when we do not have international financial institutions as partners in the source of financing, to keep all government policies related to capital investments,” Milicevic points out.
According to her, we always have a situation where the needs for expenditures are higher than the revenues, but the Government has managed to impose a policy in recent years where expenditures are tied to revenues, and that credit funds are used exclusively for road infrastructure. In the proposed budget for this year, the total expenditures are 4.612 billion BAM, and funds of 321 million BAM are planned for capital investments, which is six percent in the structure of expenditures.
Asked about the measures that the Government alone or in cooperation with other institutions and levels of government in BiH intends to take in order to mitigate the effects of global, economic, and market disruptions, Minister Milicevic said that we are witnessing certain initiatives within the country since the introduction of variable VAT rates, as well as the temporary abolition of excise duties on fuel. In accordance with these activities, the Ministry of Finance has made projections of the consequences of such decisions. As a rule, this would mean, she explained, disruptions and the inability to intervene with any measures from the budget of the Federation, but also lower levels of government.
In the end, she stressed that there is a sufficient stock of goods and that any increased demand of citizens for certain goods results in rising prices, regardless of whether there is a shortage of these products or not.
E.Dz.
