Excise duties increased, highways promised - a few sections built, but on YouTube

(Patria) - February 1st marks two years since fuel road tolls, known to the public as "excise duties", were increased under the pretext of launching road construction in BiH, stated macroeconomic analyst Faruk Hadžić

Fuel road tolls were increased by 0.18 KM per liter due to, as government representatives stated at the time, road construction, despite fierce opposition from the public and parts of the professional community.

"Everything I warned about with colleagues, who represent the progressive part of the profession, as well as appealed before and after the increase, that there would be a rise in the prices of fuel, food, transportation, an increase in the cost of living, and that road construction would not happen, has proven to be true. Admittedly, a few sections have been opened, but on YouTube," says Hadžić.

"In the meantime, an additional approximately 550 million KM has been collected which has not been invested in road construction, but loans have been taken out, and the question is who will repay these loans, as people are leaving the country en masse every day. Whether it is a coincidence or not, but since 2018, when road tolls (excise duties) were increased, mass emigration from BiH began. In that year alone, a record 53,000 permits were issued to our citizens in the EU. And whether more children are being born, as politicians promised us, you can conclude for yourselves. Happy February 1st to all of us."

According to him, the official data is that in 2018, the EU issued 53,000 permits for our citizens, that 603 fewer children were born than in 2017, and that in the first nine months of 2019 alone, 835 fewer children were born compared to the same period in 2018.