prijava
SARAJEVO, February 10 (FENA) - Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina Vjekoslav Bevanda said in an interview with FENA that he expects the process of adoption of the budget of the institutions of BiH for 2020 to be accelerated, and that if it would depend only on the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and him personally, the budget would already have been adopted.
Author: Aida Kovač
“The procedures are such that we first get budget requests, and only then do we create a budget and send it for further approval, first to the Council of Ministers and to the BiH Presidency and finally to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. We have also waited a long time for the Fiscal Council to adopt the Global Fiscal Framework for 2020-2022. It is known that it depends on how much funds are available to the institutions of BiH, and then a further plan is made,” Minister Bevanda explained.
He said the budget is a document that is not only financial but also political in nature and "always causes certain upheavals when adopted, not only in our country but it is the same everywhere else.”
“In any case, I expect that we will accelerate this process because we are on interim financing which limits us in terms of capital investments,” said Minister Bevanda.
The global fiscal framework project the increase of the budget by 30 million KM, and when asked if he knows what the money would be directed at, Bevanda replies that they know nothing until the voting procedure in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly is completed.
“Until then, the budget is in the adoption phase and changes are possible. We, of course, plan the budget according to the requirements of the budget beneficiaries and what their real needs are, not desires. The amount of 30 million KM is much smaller than the needs of the budgetary users and everyone would have a plan, but we must direct that to what is most needed at that moment. We have requirements, from the permanent accommodation, the procurement of equipment to the union initiatives to increase in salaries. You need to know that 30 million KM on a budget of almost one billion is not an amount that can make some significant changes,” said Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH.
Asked how realistic the salary increase in the BiH institutions was, he said that he expects it, as far as his ministry and his position were concerned, but "again I have to say that it is not just up to me".
“At the initiative of several trade unions, we have sent a proposal for a decision to increase the salary base by 4.5 percent and that decision is in the Secretariat-General of the Council of Ministers, it is waiting for us to vote on it when comes on the agenda. As far as I am concerned, that may already have happened. As is well known, we had an agreement with the trade unions not to reduce salaries for two years, and that was for the period from 2012, and it has been eight years since then. We must also bear in mind our obligations and the rights of our employees and their representatives to advocate for their status,” Bevanda explains.
According to him, “the public focuses only on the incomes of the high-level officials and forgets that the increase means more money to soldiers, police officers and drivers, though no one mentions it.”
The Bill on Amendments to the Law on Financing of the Institutions of BiH, which provides for a budget inspectorate, was adopted in the first reading in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
Minister Bevanda said he was pleased that the MPs supported this law in the first reading and hoped that in the further procedure, in the second reading, they would understand the significance of these changes.
Specifically, he clarified that the Law on Amendments to the Law on Financing of the Institutions of BiH establishes a budget inspectorate as a sector in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury and "this should prevent various errors and ambiguities in financial operations and spending from the budget."
It is not a new institution or new body that is being formed, but in this way, the Ministry of Finance and Treasury establishes a mechanism for consistent application of the law within its jurisdiction.
The Minister explained that it is envisaged that this state Budget Inspectorate will act on the complaints of legal or private entities solely to the conduct of the institutions of BiH.
“Also, the establishment of this body fulfills the obligation from the Questionnaire of the European Commission, because only at the level of BiH so far this body has not been formed while the budget inspectorates exist in both entities. In this way, we will improve the procedures for disposing of public funds, introduce more discipline and responsibility, and I expect the MPs to support this in the interest of all of us,” said Minister Bevanda.
For a long time, the current topic has been the allocation of VAT revenues and there have been some announcements about VAT increase or the introduction of a differentiated rate.
Asked about this, Minister Bevanda says he will be direct on the subject matter, "because various discussions about it have brought this topic to absurdity."
“Therefore, in the procedure for the adoption of the Law on VAT, the Managing Board of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) of BiH is crucial, and this body, headed by me, has adopted the draft law on VAT, and thus it is already in the procedure. The draft was previously sent to the entity-level competent committees to have their say, which was an obligation in accordance with the procedures,” says the BiH Minister of Finance and Treasury.
He notes that new laws must undergo public consultation, and so should this one, and no one who is an interested party can be denied the opportunity to give an opinion, comment or suggestion.
“So, as someone who is involved in all the developments, as someone who has read and considered the Draft Law on VAT and whose signature is on the documentation to move the law further into the procedure, I claim and emphasize that no higher VAT rate has been proposed, and it remains at 17 percent. No differentiated rate has been proposed, but instead, this law has been harmonized with European directives, which will greatly facilitate the business operations in the entities,” explained Minister Bevanda.
According to him, any change related to VAT filing and calculation is a complex job for the ITA and everything that has to be done must rest on comprehensive analyses.
Bevanda points out that it is a system that cannot be altered overnight and that this could have negative consequences if addressed superficially.
“That is why I insist that everything is based on analyses and on European experience, and when the law comes before the Council of Ministers and MPs then we shall see how acceptable it will be for everyone. For now, the only address for the law is the ITA Steering Committee, as well as for the VAT distribution and coefficients, as soon as the entity governments have agreed because they have assumed this obligation and we expect them to hold their meeting soon,” the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda concluded in an interview with FENA.
(FENA) S. R.
