prijava
SARAJEVO, January 5 (FENA) - President of the Federation of BiH Chamber of Commerce Mirsad Jašarspahić said that 2019, in terms of economic developments, was full of challenges that will continue in 2020, as well as opportunities that we must seize.
Interviewer: Darinka Mitrović
"Globally, large economic relations complicate trade and other relations and lead to market volatility and new challenges for companies directly related to industrial production in EU countries, notably Germany. If we only look at Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the most important problems is the different regulation in entities, which leads to the fact that we do not have a single economic space in BiH," said Jašarspahić in an interview for FENA.
He also added that contributions to wages, as well as a large number of parafiscal charges make it difficult for companies to operate, which puts them in a non-competitive position with companies from the countries of the region. Lack of staff in EU countries, simplified procedure of obtaining work visas for Germany and political instability in BiH significantly affect the outflow of productive workforce, which is a great challenge for BiH as well as for BiH companies.
Jašarspahić said that the introduction of steel exports quotas to the EU directly affected BiH companies and put them in a difficult position thus indicated that BiH institutions do not have the strength to fight for the status of their exporters.
When it comes to production, export, number of workers, we can say that we have strong metal, wood and textile sector.
"Of course construction, food production, agriculture are very important. We must not forget the fastest growing sector of IT industry, but also tourism, which has been developing successfully in recent years. In order to continue the positive trends in the BiH automotive sector, a significant involvement of BiH manufacturers in the development and production projects of electric car production is required," added Jašarspahić.
Jašarspahić emphasized that there is a strong need to unburden the economy.
"The highest tax wedge (the difference between the gross allocation per worker and the amount of money the worker receives) is in the Federation of BiH. The Government of the Federation of BiH has prepared a set of laws to regulate this. The adoption of the Law on Contributions and the Law on Income Tax should result in tax relief for economy. Amendments to other laws, such as the Law on Corporate Income Tax, should lead to improved conditions for companies, which will increase competitiveness and strengthen the development of the economy," added Jašarspahić.
The outflow of young workforce is visible in almost all sectors of BiH, and a large number of companies have halted their expansion of production due to the lack of staff.
The most scarce occupations at the moment are, as he added, drivers, welders, CNC operators, tool makers, all kinds of workers in the construction industry and bakers.
"On the other hand, since education in the FBiH is the responsibility of cantonal levels, it is our opinion that through the cooperation of the cantonal chambers with cantonal ministries and educational institutions, a flexible system of vocational re-training and additional training of the workforce should be ensured," added Jašarspahić.
He also talk about planned activities of the FBiH Chamber of Commerce in 2020, singling out an initiative to form a consortium of BiH companies to use the "domestic operative" quota in the contract for the construction of Block 7 of Tuzla TPP, and the founding assembly of the FBiH Engineering Chamber to be held in January.
(FENA) A. B.
