SBiH Cantonal Board on KS Debt: Debt Will Be a Bad Companion

(Patria) - The Cantonal Board of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo has been warning and
pointing out the enormous debt of Sarajevo Canton for the past year.

In a document called Guidelines for Fiscal and Economic Policy of Sarajevo Canton for the period 2025-2027, the loan situation as of 31.12.2023 is presented in a table. According to it, the total amount of loans in repayment is 504,504,152.75 KM. Principal and interest installments will reach approximately 120 million KM as early as 2026.

At the same time, the document indicates that loans whose realization has not yet begun, obligations for guarantees given for foreign and domestic loans, which are in the process of borrowing at the time of document preparation, etc., are not included in this calculation. When we add these amounts to the situation as of 31.12.2023, we get a total debt of Sarajevo Canton in the amount of approximately 850,000,000 KM.

The total debt as of 31.12.2019 was 191,000,000 KM, and this debt was incurred after the establishment of Sarajevo Canton until 2019. Thus, in a period of over 20 years, the Canton incurred a debt of 191,000,000 KM, and in the period from 2019 to today, only 6 years, it incurred a debt of 660,000,000 KM.

The Cantonal Board of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina expresses hope that the young cadre in the KS Government will understand that they are not only indebting themselves and all of us, but also their children and grandchildren. The current foreign and domestic loans of approximately 505 million KM will be increased, as we said, to the amount of 850 million KM, and there are indications that this is not the end, so Sarajevo Canton is moving towards exceeding the legal limit and "locking" the Canton in terms of credit debt.

The parties of the "Trojka" coalition will justify the words from the title of this announcement, "DEBT WILL BE A BAD COMPANION," in this senseless indebting of all of us.