Hungry mouths will not be fed by Dodik's loan

By Ernad Metaj

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The leader of SNSD and member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, complained these days that he has not regained 50 percent of his fitness after corona. Dodik is tired, and material fatigue is also felt in the budget of Republika Srpska, which is increasingly struggling to bear the sociopathic desire for independence, behind which lies the need to cover up the incompetence and crime of the sovereign ruler of the smaller BiH entity.

Sports clubs and young people have felt this recently, for whom there are no modest 370,000 marks in the budget, although they were planned. Other categories of the population in Republika Srpska will also feel it, because their budget was never intended for them. In the next 5 years, 140 million KM in interest must be repaid for the "historic loan" of 300 million euros that Republika Srpska secured through the London Stock Exchange.

It is an expensive loan, and Milorad Dodik knows it, and he is losing his breath not only due to the consequences of corona, but also due to the panic fear that all the misdeeds produced by his government during his rule will finally come due. The SNSD and its partners have stolen 140 million marks of citizens' money to cover budget holes. It did not occur to the authorities in Republika Srpska to give up planes and helicopters; they don't have to, as long as the people are fed the story of Republika Srpska being separate from BiH. Who knows, maybe those aircraft will be useful for escaping what awaits them.

The "Historic Loan" is expensive, which is why the US Ambassador to BiH Eric Nelson called on the citizens of Republika Srpska to demand accountability from the authorities. Economically, it would have been more favorable for Republika Srpska to pursue a new arrangement with the IMF, which the state must back. By destroying it, Dodik could still destroy himself. The state and FBiH authorities are still realistically far from the despair that has appeared in the coffers of Republika Srpska.

Republika Srpska did not prove its credibility and reputation on the London Stock Exchange, but the opposite. Republika Srpska is behaving like a desperate person looking for money from loan sharks. Republika Srpska bonds were not bought on the London Stock Exchange because they are valuable; they were bought by loan sharks who do not care that the debtors' children will go hungry until the debt is repaid.

The London Stock Exchange realistically depicted Republika Srpska and provided them with money on unfavorable terms, much worse than those at which, for example, the FBiH authorities borrowed from commercial banks. The poor image of Republika Srpska is also influenced by US sanctions imposed on Milorad Dodik, as well as corruption due to which Nikola Špirić is on the blacklist. Dodik's talk of a peaceful separation also made the loan more expensive, as the London Stock Exchange assessed that it could cause tensions and reduce Republika Srpska's ability to repay the bond debt.

Borrowing by Republika Srpska in this way increasingly resembles pre-war check payments that created a false sense of security. In fact, things are worse now; inflation ate the checks, and the state paid the bill. This time, the state might remain unscathed, and Republika Srpska's citizens will pay the bill. And Dodik, he might fly away, again with citizens' money.