Around 70 million KM from OdRaz could end up patching budget holes instead of supporting the economy

The Federal Government will decide at its session by the end of the week who will inherit the Revolving Fund of the former Government's Fund for Sustainable Development (OdRaz), which will grow to nearly 70 million KM this year.

HDZ BiH initially requested that the money from the Fund be managed by them, meaning this party's proposal was for the Fund to be managed by the Federal Ministry of Finance, headed by a minister from this party, Jelka Milićević.

Some ministers from other parties propose that Union Bank, which is owned by the Federation of BiH, manage the Fund's money, and that the Fund once again serve for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises by providing favorable loans to small entrepreneurs, which was the original purpose for which the Fund was established.

According to Patria's findings, no political agreement has been reached on any of these proposals, so the money could be paid into the Federation's budget.

- It is not a good solution to pay the money into the budget, because then the money will be spent on patching budget holes, just as it is not a good idea for any ministry to manage a multi-million fund. It would be best to entrust the Fund to Union Bank, and for these approximately 70 million KM to be used again for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises – says Patria's source from the Government.

OdRaz was an important fund of the Government of the Federation of BiH. It was founded in 2001. It was used for the implementation of projects in municipalities across the FBiH, financed by the World Bank and other international institutions. Most often, it involved favorable lending for infrastructure projects important for the entire local community, as well as favorable lending for small and medium-sized enterprises. 

Since Vinko Jakić took over as head of OdRaz in 2013, the Foundation began to collapse, and numerous projects were halted or completely suspended. It is suspected that Jakić, as the director of the Foundation, committed a series of criminal offenses and abused his official position, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Foundation.

The Government abolished OdRaz at the end of April. It remains unclear who will inherit OdRaz's multi-million Fund, writes NAP.