Ministry of Economy has not yet processed applications from businesses for co-financing of wages

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Minister of Finance of Sarajevo Canton Jasmin Halebić and Minister of Economy Draško Jeličić, in their address to the public, listed all activities undertaken in the implementation of the Public Call for awarding funds for financing part of the minimum net wage, for the months of April and May 2020. They stated that the Sarajevo Canton published these calls even before the distribution of funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On this occasion, Minister Halebić reminded that at the session of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina held yesterday, a Decision on determining the criteria for the distribution of funds from the item Current Transfers to other levels of government and funds was unanimously adopted.

“These are funds from the arrangement with the IMF, in the amount of 200 million KM, which will help cantons in mitigating the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic,” said Minister Halebić.

He added that the criterion for distributing this money will be the number of inhabitants in the cantons, with Bosanskopodrinjski and Posavski cantons receiving double the amount of funds due to their small population.

He emphasized that Sarajevo Canton expects about 37 million KM in funds, which will be intended for business entities.

“The Ministry of Finance will implement a credit-guarantee fund from these funds, which was announced by the adoption of the Law on Mitigating Negative Economic Consequences and Savings in KS. The criteria will be determined by the Government of KS, which will determine the method of financing and managing this fund. The funds will be favorable for business entities, which will further stabilize their financing in this way,” emphasized Minister Halebić.

In addition, a decision was made on the criteria for the distribution of an additional 30 million KM to municipalities in FBiH, which are implemented from the FBiH Budget. Each municipality in FBiH will be allocated 125,000 KM, totaling 10 million KM, while the remaining 20 million KM will be distributed through a public call for financing projects and initiatives.

Sarajevo Canton welcomes these Decisions, which come at the right time as they are a prerequisite for the operational realization of IMF funds for cantons, and which will enable co-financing of wage payments for April and May of the current year for about 12,000 employees in more than 3,800 business entities affected by the coronavirus pandemic and who have already applied for this purpose.

Minister Halebić pointed out in this regard that this is an optimal way to help and support business entities in KS, and it is implemented in combination with the subsidy of contributions to the minimum wage, which is enabled by the “corona” law adopted at the level of the Federation of BiH. The aforementioned measures enable the maintenance of employment levels in the real sector, and stable funding of the pension and health funds.

For the implementation of measures for financing part of the minimum net wage in the Federation of BiH for the months of April and May, as stated by Minister Jeličić, there was no waiting for the planned funds from the FBiH to arrive. They were planned in the KS Budget for this year, and on that basis, the Ministry of Economy issued a Public Call for awarding funds for the payment of part of the wages of workers and legal entities for April and May, who lost their wages due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“For this public call, which closed on June 15, 3,087 applications from business entities were received. So far, 2,533 applications have been processed, which is about 82 percent of the received applications. We have estimated, and according to our first filter, that about 1,600 applicants meet the conditions for receiving these funds,” emphasized Minister Jeličić.

He expects that the implementation of the mentioned funds from the Federation to Sarajevo Canton will happen quickly, making these funds operational.

He pointed out that all activities are the result of successful cooperation between the Ministry of Economy of KS, municipalities in Sarajevo Canton, the Tax Administration of FBiH, the Institute for Informatics and Statistics of KS, the Economic Institute in Sarajevo, and the Chamber of Commerce of KS, which helped in processing the received data.

At the proposal of the Ministry of Economy of KS, six municipalities joined this public call in such a way that they invited natural persons, i.e., sole proprietors who registered their activity in these municipalities, to apply according to the same principle and exercise their right to this part of the wage for April and May. These municipalities are: Novi Grad, Trnovo, Ilijaš, Hadžići, Vogošća, and Ilidža.

“In the coming days, we expect a similar public call to be published in the municipalities of Centar and Novo Sarajevo. The municipality of Stari Grad has resolved this issue in a manner adopted by their council,” announced Minister Jeličić.