Credit debt of the Sarajevo Canton amounts to 142 million KM in one year!

(Patria) - The Cantonal Council of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Canton reacted following the publication of a document in the Official Gazette of the Sarajevo Canton titled "Document of the Framework Budget of the SARAJEVO CANTON FOR THE PERIOD (DOB) 2025. - 2027" which provides an overview of the loan status as of December 31, 2023.

The balance of loans already contracted and being repaid as of December 31, 2023 amounts to: 489,529,522.39 KM, of which:

• 252,013,642.14 KM foreign loans
• 237,515,880.25 KM domestic loans

In the same document, published last year, the debt status as of December 31, 2022 was given as: 346,939,939.16 KM, of which:

• 192,041,074.18 KM foreign loans
• 154,898,865.43 KM domestic loans

When comparing 2022 and 2023, we see that the credit debt of the Sarajevo Canton increased by 142,589,582.78 KM in one year.

What should be emphasized here is that this refers only to active loans, not including loans in the contracting phase, which together amount to approximately 850 million KM.

Also, this amount does not include, for example, the long-term credit debt of the Sarajevo Canton, which was discussed at the 32nd session of the Government of the Sarajevo Canton on July 12, 2024.

We will remind that the total debt of the Sarajevo Canton from its establishment until 2019 amounted to 191 million KM, and now in just one year the credit debt has increased by 142.5 million KM.

What is also interesting is that the framework budget also anticipates receipts from long-term credit borrowings in the revenue potential of 19,000,000 KM, which relates to covering the accumulated deficit.

Furthermore, the Sarajevo Canton will again have positions in its budget related to fictitious revenues, which serve to "balance" revenues and expenditures. In the same document, under the subtitle Projections of the Budget of the Sarajevo Canton for the next three years, it states: "Based on the mentioned projections, a significant surplus of revenues from indirect taxes is expected..." which means we collect less effectively, but consequently spend significantly more based on projected and unfounded revenues.

When we look at the positions by ministries and their approved expenditures, it will be interesting to see how, from fictitious revenues—which will be evident through the budget implementation in 2024—costs that grow like mushrooms after rain from the DOB to the budget will be justified.

Finally, the Cantonal Council of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo Canton once again emphasizes the destructiveness of the current government on the budget, which is even more evident in the framework budget amounts for 2026 and 2027.

When you give children a toy, they play with it, and when you give the budget to little boys, they destroy the budget, which we directly observe through credit debts and the DOB.