No inflation, no increase in veteran benefits in FBiH

The Government of the Federation of BiH, at its 48th session, adopted decisions on the amount of the coefficient and the base for calculating and paying monthly financial benefits to users of veteran-disability protection, personal and family disability pensions, and monthly financial benefits for recipients of war decorations and awards and their family members for 2016, it was announced from the Government of FBiH, reported the Patria News Agency.

This has created the legal prerequisites for ensuring the regular payment of disability pensions throughout 2016 to 92,000 recipients of personal and family disability pensions (50,000 personal and 42,000 family), for which 298,530,000 KM has been secured in the Budget, and for 5,000 recipients of war decorations and awards in the total amount of 17,591,800 KM.

When proposing the amount of bases and coefficients, the relevant federal ministry determined that, according to the Law on the Rights of Veterans and their Families and the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Rights of Veterans and their Families, the bases for calculating benefits for users of veteran-disability protection in 2016 are determined depending on the movement of retail price indices in 2015 compared to the previous year.

According to data published in the Statistical Annual Bulletin (January 2016), the consumer price index growth in 2015 compared to 2014 is l=99.3, which means that no annual inflation growth was recorded in the Federation of BiH. Therefore, the amount of the base and coefficients in this year remained the same as for the previous year.

According to the Law on the Execution of the Budget for 2016, the payment of benefits for war invalids, family disability pensions, and recipients of awards has priority in all monthly payments from the Budget.

With these decisions, the Government of the Federation of BiH and the relevant federal ministry have confirmed that they remain committed to the basic objective that the level of rights and funds allocated to the veteran population will not be reduced, it was announced from the Federal Ministry for Affairs of Veterans and Disabled Veterans of the Defensive-Liberation War, according to the Government's statement.