It is certain that the Sarajevo company GRAS will go bankrupt in the following period, and many other entities from that sector could go that route as well.
Aziz Sunje, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Sarajevo and an expert on public companies, stated that there is a real moment when bankruptcy should be declared, and in the specific case of GRAS, that was ten years ago.
Sunje explained that the bankruptcy had to happen due to poor management, but that with the right bankruptcy trustee and the right vision, everything can be brought to a good state.
”In the example of GRAS, it would be better if the bankruptcyoccurred much earlier when the value of the debt exceeded the value of the property. That was about ten years ago,” he pointed out.
Sunje said that he is a supporter of the fact that what is a public good must be in the hands of the state, it is only a question of the quality of management of that public sector.
”In order to ensure a certain quality of public sector management, these companies need to be differentiated from the political parties in power, in a way that these companies are run by professional managers, who know what business is, ” Sunjetold.
The pandemic was an additional burden on the backs of the public sector, and government assistance, as Sunje believes, should have been more generous and selective.
GRAS owes at least 300 million BAM on various grounds, of which the debt to the Tax Administration of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) is more than 130 million.
The record debtor on the list of the Tax Administration is the company Zeljeznice FBiH (Railways of FBiH), whose debt isabout 200 million BAM in terms of taxes. Are they next in line for those waiting for the bankruptcy trustee?!, eKapija writes.
E.Dz.