prijava
SARAJEVO, November 8 (FENA) - Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH and Minister of Finance and Treasury, Vjekoslav Bevanda, received today Head of the International Monetary Fund Mission to BiH, Martin Petri, to discuss budget adoption activities for this year and 2020.
Bevanda emphasized that the current political situation in BiH confirms that the budget is not in the focus of interest because this extremely important document has not been adopted for the current year, although the draft budget for the next year should be completed by now.
“In every country, the budget is a basic financial document and its adoption is a serious process. Here we have the situation that the Fiscal Council of BiH has not been in session, which has to adopt the Global Fiscal Framework, and the budget request for 2020 has not yet been submitted to us by the BiH Presidency,” Bevanda emphasized.
They stated that interim financing is in effect and that this cannot be a step towards a new arrangement with the IMF or continuation of the existing one, as it is expected to adopt the budget and implement the reforms undertaken under the Letter of Intent signed by the BiH authorities.
It was emphasized that the formation and functioning of the government remains a priority topic in BiH, but also a prerequisite to continue implementation of the reforms planned through the arrangement with the IMF and other financial institutions with which BiH has credit arrangements for which the ratification procedure in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly has not been completed.
So far, under the Extended Fund Facility between BiH and the IMF, two tranches of around 150 million KM per tranche have been paid into the entity's accounts, and the total value of the loan program, which was aborted in June 2018, amounts to about 1.1 billion KM.
Apart from Minister Bevanda's associate, the meeting was also attended by IMF Resident Representative in BiH Andrew Jewel, stated the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury.
(FENA) S. R.
