FBiH Budget Rebalance Before the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament

(Patria) - The third extraordinary session of the House of Peoples of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held on Tuesday, with the rebalance of the Federation's budget on its announced agenda after it was adopted by the House of Representatives last week.

In order to enter into force, the House of Peoples must adopt both the rebalance and the amended budget execution law in identical texts to those approved by the House of Representatives.

This year's Federation budget rebalance amounts to a total of 6,937,563,355 KM, which is 211.7 million KM or 3.1 percent more compared to the current budget.

The explanation from the Ministry of Finance lists the key reasons for the rebalance, which include the elimination of technical errors in certain economic codes in the budget and the budget execution law, resulting from the adoption of amendments during the parliamentary procedure for the adoption of the current budget; then the adoption of amendments to the Law on Social Protection, Protection of War Victims, as well as the Decision on extraordinary pension adjustment by 3.9 percent and its application from May 2023.

The reasons also include an increase in interest payments on external debt due to the rise of Euribor and the need for additional funds in the application of the Law on Material Support for Families with Children in FBiH, as well as the necessary increase in funds in the Solidarity Fund within the Health Insurance and Reinsurance Institute of FBiH.

Given that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Decision on extraordinary pension adjustment of 3.9 percent at its third session on May 19, 2023, starting from the May pension payment, an additional 69.6 million KM needs to be secured for this adjustment in the current fiscal year, the Government stated, among other things.

In addition, the adopted amendments to the Law on the Foundations of Social Protection, Protection of Civilian Victims of War, and Protection of Families with Children have led to an increase in the base applied from April 1, 2023, and in addition to the planned 160 million KM, approximately another 67 million KM needs to be secured.