Hasić: Abolition of 'white bread' should be welcomed, but it will not lead us out of the crisis

Deputies of the House of Representatives voted on Thursday to abolish the so-called „white bread“ at the state level, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria. 

The amendment to the law on salaries abolishing the "white bread", which was submitted to the procedure by the Club of SBB deputies, was adopted with 27 votes "in favor", four "against" and one "abstention".

Analysts note that this step by state deputies should be welcomed, but at the same time it should be pointed out that it involves minor savings in the state budget, which will not significantly contribute to the recovery of Bosnia and Herzegovina's economy unless savings are made in much larger items.

Data from the Office for Audit of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2013 indicate that BiH institutions spend about 26 million KM annually on official vehicles, telephones and representation. In 2013 alone, 17,524,379 KM was spent on vehicle use. 

On the other hand, in the past seven years (2008 – 2014), slightly more than 2,300,000 KM was spent from the BiH budget on white bread, according to data from the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH.
 
Last year, 175,347 KM was allocated for white bread.

Economic analyst Duljko Hasić said in an interview for the Bosnian news agency Patria that the abolition of white bread should be assessed positively, but this item is too minor to speak of significant progress in the country. 

- If the authorities truly want progress in this country, they will have to work on cutting much larger expenditures, such as those on travel expenses, various double flat rates, official vehicles, etc., warned Hasić.