Alma Ras suspends investments due to FBiH Government decision: Path to company ruin

(Patria) - General Director of the company “Alma Ras” Rasim Memagić revealed today at a meeting of businessmen from Zenica-Doboj Canton that this company is suspending planned investments.

The reason - the FBiH Government's decision to increase the minimum net salary to 1000 KM.

In his discussion, he expressed reservations regarding the announced subsidies, stating that businessmen fill the budget with additional contributions and then wait for handouts. In his opinion, this opens the door to corruption.

“I think this is just a path to company ruin. As for the company Alma Ras, it employs 1100 workers. You know what we have been through, you know we have our own brand and we are in a position to increase prices on the market, which is unpopular, completely against all economic reasoning, because we have been trying and working all the time to increase work efficiency, not to pass on some coronas, inefficient work through organization, incompetence.... and to turn all that into price increases,” he said.

He says that businessmen who export know that this is an unsustainable situation in the long run.

“As a large producer, we always look at where the competition is, we have Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, these are markets we measure ourselves against and where we could position ourselves in terms of prices. Now, with these decisions, we are more expensive than all those countries and, of course, next year when we negotiate, if we survive, our customers, who are huge market leaders, will consider relocating production elsewhere. That's the whole story of these discussions,” says Memagić.

He states that salaries are not paid by employers but by customers.

“We must remember that. If we do not receive orders from abroad, we can have any will we want, sell villas, houses, apartments, land, machines, everything, it simply won't be possible. That's a false promise. Likewise, if we shift everything to customers, it will last for a short time, imported goods will come and overwhelm us, regardless of the fact that Alma Ras is an established brand with loyal customers, but love is love, but if something is 30-40% more expensive, simply no one will buy it,” he stated and added:

“My conclusion is that we must have this regulation reconsidered in every possible way, that contributions be frozen. We have sick leaves which are an inevitability in every company. People get sick, they get treated. Alma Ras had 170 workers on sick leave every month last year. What are we supposed to do now? Argue and confront workers about whether they are really sick or not,” Memagić asked in an interview with Vijesti.ba.