Mijatović: FBiH will pass a legislation package with the aim of fiscal consolidation

In an interview with FENA, Mijatović stressed that he will insist on increasing the minimum wage, which should be increased without hesitation, then on reducing contributions, more precisely the burden on personal income, and on changing the income tax.

It will be, as he said, the biggest reform in the last 20 years.

"An enormously larger number of companies will move from Republika Srpska to the Federation of BiH, because businesses are suffocating. They plan to take a 10 percent tax on dividends and raise contributions, but no one will be able to withstand that," explained Mijatović.

He announces that the adoption of these laws will create more than 10,000 jobs in the first year.

"We enter the next year with a big advantage, which is that we will have the lowest burden on personal income in the region. We believe that this will greatly relieve our real sector and ensure better conditions for workers," emphasized Mijatović.

He underlines that there are a large number of export-oriented companies in the Federation of BiH, but that the lack of labor force is the biggest problem.

"The departure of people from BiH, which has been going on for 15 years, has led to the fact that the acute problem of the real sector and the economy is actually the workers. To ensure the conditions for them to stay, we must increase the minimum wage. Employers have no problem increasing wages, but they asked for a reduction in contributions, which is a justified request," he said.

He believes that this will be the most important thing systemically and fundamentally in this mandate when it comes to the relationship of the FBiH Government towards the economy.

"The FBiH Government's obligation is to ensure the business environment, and in that context, we will have a big turnaround," says Mijatović.

As he explained, that reduction will cost the FBiH budget, and now they are doing certain simulations to see what that amount is. He underlines that it is their obligation to secure these funds and to take over the burden and responsibility of the real sector in order to help workers and employers.

Speaking about the work of the FBiH Government so far, he assesses that there is room for improvement, because it is difficult to train a new team in 60 days, and they had, as he stated, a bad situation and a budget that was adopted before their appointment.

He announced that on July 25, the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH will consider the budget revision which will increase the budget by 210 million KM.

He believes that the mandate of the previous government lasted too long and that they did not even manage to preserve jobs.

"We have finished public calls for this year when it comes to grants for craftsmen, small businesses and development. But the companies that will receive 15 million KM grants and nine million KM loans will not mean the creation of new jobs and progress," said Mijatović.

He announces that next year he will begin the transformation of the Ministry and that he will focus on development.

"Of course, we will also deal with craftsmen and small businesses, but development will be our guiding dea. If we look at the grant for strengthening competitiveness, we will see that there are about 40 percent of car carriers. That sector should also be helped, but there is no substantial development and increase in the number of jobs," he stated.

Changing the approach is something he will do in the ministry he leads, because people, he said, have been working in key positions as civil servants for too long.

"All of them are employed along political party lines. When you see the structure of the companies that have received aid for the last eight years, you cannot believe how strangely they coincide with certain owners who were members of the ruling party," said Mijatović.

He points out that 310 million KM have been spent in the last nine years in this sector, and that the Ministry has become an end in itself, and should be a service to the real sector.

The introduction of digital transformation, the strengthening of domestic companies to enter foreign markets and the fiscal consolidation package must, as he said, bring short-term and long-term effects.

"We have to fix the situation and civil servants must understand that they are paid by taxpayers and citizens. If we don't change anything, we will be the same as those before us," said Mijatović.

He also referred to the joint session of the Government of FBiH and the RS, emphasizing that it is good that they are held, but that colleagues from the RS are trapped in the narrative of the transfer of competencies.

"Unfortunately, some good things are being blocked, because their political concept is like that. We talked about the initiative to go together with the Directorate for Indirect Taxation to increase the threshold for VAT users in order to relieve small businesses. I even suggested that we create an agency for small and medium-sized enterprises," he explained

At this moment, he pointed out that there is no political will for such things in the RS.

He also spoke with foreign investors who are ready to invest in serious projects, but their first question is about security guarantees. 

"We can tell them whatever we want, but what they see in the media is completely the opposite. That atmosphere, which has been going on for too long in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has driven away more than two million people, and it is also driving away those who decided to stay so far. Nobody is ready to look the truth in the eyes, from my party colleagues to everyone else," underlines Mijatović.

He warned at the end of the conversation that the talk about the war is meaningless, but that the people who would know how to make something of the state will leave their homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina because of it.

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(FENA) S. R.

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