Džaferović confirmed Krišto does not want to schedule a session on December 29: We enter 2018 without a Budget

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Šefik Džaferović, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the BiH PA, confirmed the agency Patria's report that the session of this house will not be held on December 29 because the Speaker of the House, Borjana Krišto (HDZ BiH), does not want it. This means that BiH will enter the new year without an adopted Budget.

- We discussed the plan of activities until the end of the year within the collegium, and December 29 was left in our agreements as a reserve option if we did not adopt the budget by then. According to the last conversations we had, Mrs. Krišto is not willing to hold that session on December 29. She justifies it with some of her reasons. The next session is on January 17, and then a session is planned for January 31. I would like it if we could find the strength and hold a session by the end of this year and adopt the budget of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Džaferović told TV1.

He also said that he does not know the reason why December 29 is not suitable for Krišto to schedule a session.

We remind you that the session of the House of Representatives of the BiH PA was interrupted on December 21 without reaching the agenda item that provides for the discussion of the Draft Budget for 2018. The session was interrupted because a Christmas reception hosted by Dragan Čović, Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, was held in the BiH Parliament building that evening.

Many expressed the view at the time that the session should not have been interrupted, as there was a quorum even without the presence of HDZ deputies. Due to this situation, BiH will most likely enter 2018 without a Budget.

What is known is that the Draft Law on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2018, proposed by the Presidency of BiH, goes through two readings, and there are amendments and they have already been announced.

Moreover, without amendments, the Alliance for Better Future will not support the Budget, which means there is no majority for its adoption. SBB demands that funds from the budget reserves available to the members of the Presidency of BiH and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and his deputies be redirected to social categories and sports.

This practically means that a break in the session should be made to incorporate the amendments, and after that, the session of the House of Peoples must also be scheduled immediately.

The Council of Ministers of BiH determined the Draft Law on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for the next year on November 22, amounting to KM 1,954,062,329. The budget for financing institutions remains KM 950 million, although the total requests from users were higher by KM 333,727,000 or 36 percent.

Revenues for servicing external debt amount to KM 1,004,062,329 and are lower by about KM 7.1 million compared to this year, so the total budget amounts to KM 1,954,062,329.

The budget includes, among other things, funds for the implementation of general elections next year, for multi-year projects of budget users and the operationalization of the state prison, as well as funds for calculating salaries of police officers due to the legally adopted change in their coefficients.

The total amount allocated for the payment of salaries and benefits in entities financed from the state budget is KM 559,264,000 and is higher by KM 8,637,000 compared to the Budget for 2017.

TEMPORARY FINANCING

Budget users cannot start new or expanded programs and activities until they are approved in the Budget Law. The exception applies to the repayment of public internal and external debt that is paid upon maturity of obligations.

The continuation of multi-year projects, procurement of goods and services, i.e., the continuation of payment of funds for these purposes, is permitted in accordance with the conditions of temporary financing, provided that multi-year financing or authorization for future obligations was approved in previous budgets.

After approval by the Council of Ministers, only the Ministry of Finance and Treasury can be authorized to take a short-term loan from entities or banking sources to carry out temporary financing up to a maximum of one quarter of the budget of the previous fiscal year and to the extent that is in line with the principles of sound cash management and the requirement to meet repayment during the fiscal year. Conversely, no new debt, whether internal or external, can be incurred until the budget is adopted.

The budget must be adopted no later than March 31.