Apolitical Prime Minister: Novalić's Government Saved by a 200 Million KM Loan

The Government of the Federation of BiH, at today's session in Sarajevo, determined the Draft Rebalance of this year's federal budget and sent it to the parliamentary procedure as an urgent matter, reports the Patria News Agency.

- The rebalance proposes an increase of the current budget by 14.3 million KM, meaning a total new budget amount of 2,348,412,392 KM - said the Federal Minister of Finance, Jelka Milićević, at a press conference after today's session.

Since 200 million from the arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be missing by the end of the year, money from loans from commercial banks, willing to lend with a repayment period of five to seven years, has been factored in instead.

According to the minister, the Federation has problems collecting dividends from the operations of public companies, as well as profit tax, and new categories of this year's revenues have added nine million KM to the budget.

The most significant new amount on the expenditure side is a transfer of 21.3 million KM foreseen by the rebalance for the pension fund.

The transfer for obligations to non-war disabled individuals has been increased by about 11 million, and for compensation for damages from floods and landslides by about 9.6 million.

Since a moratorium on new employment in the public sector has been introduced until the end of the year, about 13.7 million has been saved on this basis and redirected for the implementation of the first employment and self-employment policy for young people, for which a total of 20 million is allocated, the Minister of Finance also stated.

Capital budget transfers have been reduced by about 6.2 million KM, and interest expenses by 1.44 million.

Along with the Draft Rebalance, the Government also determined the accompanying act, the Draft Law on Amendments to the Budget Execution Law, and also sent it to the parliamentary procedure, because neither the rebalance nor the law can come into force if they are not approved by both houses, it was announced from the Government of FBiH.