Herceg attributes credit: HNK Government stabilized budget with austerity measures of minister from previous term

The current Government of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, led by Prime Minister Nevenko Herceg, has recently been boasting about the stabilization of the HNK budget. And they achieved this, according to them, by prohibiting employment and budget savings.

The fact is that the budget situation in HNK is more favorable today compared to previous years, but it is worth noting how stabilization was achieved. The current Herceg Government is clearly taking credit for others' work.

The Minister of Finance in the previous HNK Government, Samir Hadžihusejnović, announced almost four years ago that the budget situation would stabilize once the austerity measures he initiated were implemented. For these actions, Minister Hadžihusejnović was then criminally charged by those who burdened the HNK budget with various lawsuits.

After numerous attempts using all possible methods, reducing public spending, cutting salaries, and prohibiting employment, long-standing problems were resolved by taking out a loan from a commercial bank and settling all obligations of around 1.1 million KM per month (old obligations, inherited deficits from the previous government's period, which were paid from the budget, preventing current obligations from being met) and reducing them to around 260,000 KM per month.

The key to stabilizing financial conditions in HNK was the adoption of the Law on Compensation for Damages for Flooded Areas.

Out of 10 Hydroelectric Power Plants in FBiH, 7 are located in HNK, and compensation for flooded areas previously amounted to about 200,000 KM annually. This amount was significantly increased by the new law, and the former government had already begun settling obligations and was in a position to execute the budget month by month from January 2016, with the portion of the 260,000 KM amount for the monthly loan installment, which was a trifle compared to 1.1 million.

In addition to adopting the Law on Compensation for Damages for Flooded Areas, former Minister Hadžihusejnović decided to suspend payments for work in commissions and prohibit commission work during working hours. Due to work in commissions, the HNK budget had suffered huge losses until then, with the largest losses recorded in the tourism sector and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where various commissions held sessions during working hours and used government resources (cars, fuel, daily allowances)...

Following these actions, the HNK Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated an investigation against Minister Hadžihusejnović for suspending compensation payments for work in commissions. He then announced in an interview with Večernji list that the financial situation in HNK could be stable from January 2016.

Today, the situation is indeed stable, and the Herzegovina government, which found a fairly organized budget situation, boasts of its successes.

Regarding the employment ban, our source from the HNK Government states that it is not true that there was a ban, and that a large number of people have been hired in various ministries in the last few months, mostly as advisors to ministers. It is known that the monthly income of advisors is equal to the income of workers in the real sector for six months, so it is clear how much the HNK budget is burdened by these enormously high expenses.

Although we requested more information about these hirings from the Office of HNK Prime Minister Nevenko Herceg, we have not yet received a response.