Presidency of BiH has the right to return the Draft Budget of BiH Institutions for revision, the same was done in 2021.

(Patria) - The Presidency of BiH has the right to return the Draft Budget of BiH Institutions for revision. This has happened in previous years.

Such a case was with the Budget for 2021. The Presidency of BiH returned the Draft for revision, requesting that significant funds be allocated for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. These items were not in the original proposal.

The Council of Ministers of BiH then unanimously determined the Draft Law on the Budget of BiH Institutions and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2021, which the Ministry of Finance and Treasury will submit to the Presidency of BiH, responsible for its proposal, and which provides 21,684,000 KM for the fight against the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. Therefore, the same procedure is now requested, namely to find another way to pay the debt to Viaduct, not from the funds of the Central Bank of BiH as proposed by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury.

In 2008, the Presidency of BiH also returned the Draft Budget for revision twice, and the mediator between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Presidency was the High Representative Miroslav Lajčak.

Therefore, the stance of both the Minister of Finance and Treasury Srđan Amidžić and the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH Borjana Krišto, who claim that the Presidency of BiH should do this, is surprising.

After yesterday's session of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Krišto stated that the institution of the Presidency of BiH is the one that should determine the budget proposal.

"The Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH should be technical assistance. I call on the Presidency to send the budget proposal to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH as soon as possible, due to Viaduct, the normal functioning of BiH institutions, and the execution of obligations foreseen by the budget," Krišto said.

However, Krišto and Amidžić are clearly shifting responsibility to the Presidency of BiH, specifically to Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović, who, by conclusions, requested a correction of the Draft Budget, opposing the proposal to pay the debt to Viaduct from the profits of the Central Bank of BiH. Amidžić allocated 200 million KM from the CBBiH profits in the Draft. The debt to Viaduct amounts to 110 million KM, but with a daily interest of 18,000 KM, the debt is increasing.

The Legal Affairs Directorate of BiH, during a public hearing before the Committee on Finance and Budget and the Committee on Combating Corruption, also took the stance that the Central Bank of BiH cannot pay the debt to Viaduct because it was not a party to the proceedings, and they also filed a complaint with the court in Mostar due to the prosecutor's request to block the building of the Central Bank of BiH in that city.

In the latest statement from the PIC, the authorities in BiH are called upon to respect the Law on the Central Bank of BiH.