Sarajevo Ready with Incentives for the Economy

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Ministry of Economy of Sarajevo Canton announced today, on its official website, a Public Call for the second set of programs from the Annual Plan for the Implementation of the Small Economy Development Program for 2021. The Public Call is available at https://mp.ks.gov.ba/aktuelno/konkursi/javni-poziv-za-odabir-korisnika-poticajnih-sredstava-po-programima-za

“The programs relate to incentives for subsidizing – refunding interest on taken loans, refunding costs of technological modernization, application of quality standards and business digitalization, as well as incentives for new investments in technological modernization and application of quality standards, incentives for small economy start-up entities, and incentives for the development of women's entrepreneurship,” stated Minister Delić.

He explained that the program “Subsidizing – refunding interest on taken loans” implies, among other things, reducing financing costs and stabilizing operations. The minimum loan amount for which a portion of interest costs for 2019 and 2020 will be subsidized is 30,000 KM, while the maximum loan amount is 1 million KM per entity.

The program “Refunding costs of technological modernization, application of quality standards and business digitalization” involves submitting applications to the Public Call for subsidizing – refunding eligible documented costs of purchasing machinery, equipment for applying technical norms and quality standards, and business digitalization in order to support liquidity and/or new employment.

“A total of 400,000 KM is planned for this program, while the maximum amount that individual business entities can receive per Public Call is up to 20,000 KM,” said the minister.

The third program from the Public Call presented today is “Incentive for new investments in technological modernization and application of quality standards,” through which strengthening competitiveness and promoting the development of small economy entities is planned. It includes subsidizing/refunding eligible costs incurred after the publication of the public call for launching new and maintaining existing production and jobs, up to fifty percent, or up to 15,000 KM per individual beneficiary. The total funds planned for this purpose amount to 150,000 KM.

The Ministry's Public Call also pertains to submitting applications for incentives for the development of women's entrepreneurship and small economy start-up entities, which Minister Delić highlighted as important programs. The planned funds for these two programs amount to slightly over half a million KM.

“It is important to emphasize that the incentive for small economy start-up entities is a program that differs from the Program for Supporting Youth in Starting Up Business Entities, given that the inquiries we often receive at the Ministry indicate that they are somehow linked. These are separate programs, and the incentive for youth will be announced next week, while the one we are announcing today relates to refunding certain costs for start-up business entities established in the period from 01/01/2018 to 12/31/2020. Each individual start-up can receive a refund of eligible costs in a maximum amount of up to 15,000 KM,” explained the minister. He added that the total funds planned for this program amount to 260,000 KM.

The program for incentivizing the development of women's entrepreneurship requires the entity to be majority-owned by a woman, i.e., at least 51%, and involves refunding eligible costs for the period from 01/01/2019 to 12/31/2020, while the incentive amount per individual entity is the same as for start-up entities, i.e., up to 15,000 KM.

Minister Delić emphasized that the public calls will be published in the next issue of the Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton, which will most likely be on Thursday, July 15, 2021, and as prescribed by law, the duration of the public calls will be counted from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

He also reminded that the public calls were presented last week and published yesterday in the Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton.

“The Ministry of Economy of Sarajevo Canton informs business banks and small economy entities that are eligible to participate according to the relevant public calls, that the 30-day period for submitting applications begins from the date of publication of these notices,” the minister stated, adding that the application forms for the first set of public calls are published on the Ministry's website, along with a link to each relevant public call as an additional document.