Bevanda and Jewel discuss BiH-IMF cooperation

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH and Minister of Finance and Treasury Vjekoslav Bevanda received the newly appointed Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in BiH Andrew Jewel today for an introductory visit, discussing possibilities for future cooperation.

Bevanda welcomed Jewel and pledged support in his future work in the new position he took over in August from the former IMF Resident Representative Francisco Parodi.

It was stated at the meeting that the formation of government remains a priority issue in BiH, although almost a year has passed since the General Elections, and it was reiterated that concrete cooperation with the IMF awaits the new government.

Bevanda informed Jewel that the Council of Ministers has so far adopted three quarterly decisions on temporary financing and that the budget for this year is in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH after the Presidency of BiH adopted it with a majority of votes in August.

Speaking about the shortcomings of temporary financing that prevent capital investments, Minister Bevanda assessed that the best solution would be for the budget for 2019 to be adopted as soon as possible by the deputies and delegates of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

Bevanda emphasized that the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH professionally performs its duties and respects legal deadlines, and that the servicing of external debt is carried out in accordance with the repayment plan and BiH institutions are financed regularly, and consultations with budget users for the 2020 budget are underway.

The interlocutors agreed that discussions on future cooperation will be much more concrete after the process of forming the government in BiH is completed, so that new projects can be decided upon at full capacity.

So far, within the extended arrangement between BiH and the IMF, two tranches of about 150 million KM per tranche have been paid into the entity accounts, and the total value of the credit program is about 1.1 billion KM, but it was interrupted in 2018.