prijava
SARAJEVO, December 30 (FENA) - Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda spoke in an interview with Fokus.ba about the possibilities of concluding a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after an agreement could not be reached on several occasions in the past at the sessions of the Fiscal Council of BiH.
A new chance for an agreement and a new debt of 750 million euros needed to deal with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and for reforms is the end of January 2021.
Bevanda emphasized that the budget of BiH is not in danger due to the possible absence of an arrangement with the IMF, because the money from this loan goes to the accounts of the entities and is spent there. He added that the arrangement with the IMF is not just a mere loan, but also brings about the reforms we need, but often we are not determined or do not have the consent to implement them. That is the main reason, Bevanda said, that he supports arrangements with the IMF, because of the part related to the implementation of reforms.
“As mentioned earlier, there was no agreement of the entity governments to negotiate this arrangement with the IMF earlier. There is still an opportunity for consultations and I cannot prejudge whether an agreement will be reached between the governments and whether there will be any possible corrections of the previous measures from the Letter of Intent in order to reach an agreement,” Bevanda added.
Asked whether, until the arrangement with the IMF is concluded, there will be indebtedness with domestic banks, Bevanda said that the state of BiH is financed by indirect taxes and that the Global Fiscal Framework adopted by the Fiscal Council determines how many withdrawals from the single account for the state are made. The budget of BiH institutions thus does not depend on any arrangements or loans. The Law on Financing, Bevanda reminded, regulates that obligations towards international financial institutions are fulfilled even when we are on temporary financing.
“So, even when, as is the case now, we have a decision on temporary financing from the beginning of the year, all loan installments are returned, but again I emphasize that it is returned by the one to whom the loan was allocated and who is in charge. It may sound inappropriate to say in these difficult times, but the state of BiH has regular sources of funding and its financial stability is not threatened. Of course, all this to a certain extent, but for now we are functioning quite normally. Borrowings from domestic banks and bond issues are something that happens in the entities and we at the level of BiH have not had such activities,” Bevanda added.
(FENA) L. N.
