FBiH Government adopts Budget Rebalance for 2023

(Patria) - The FBiH Government, at the proposal of the Federal Ministry of Finance, adopted the Draft Amendments to the FBiH Budget for 2023 at today's session in Sarajevo, amounting to 6,937,563,355 KM, which is 211.7 million KM or 3.1 percent more compared to this year's budget.

The Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Execution of the FBiH Budget for 2023 was also adopted, which, along with the Amendments to the FBiH Budget for 2023, will be sent to parliamentary procedure under an urgent procedure.

As stated in the explanation for the urgent procedure, taking into account the revised macroeconomic indicator projections for 2023 and revised indirect tax projections, as well as the measures taken by the European Central Bank to combat inflation (raising key interest rates), and due to the inability to execute certain expenditures planned based on adopted amendments, which became an integral part of the FBiH Budget for 2023 and the Law on Execution of the FBiH Budget for 2023, urgent preparation and drafting of amendments was initiated.

The Ministry's explanation lists the key reasons for proceeding with the Amendments to this year's budget, including correcting technical errors in certain economic codes in the Budget and the Law on Budget Execution, which arose as a consequence of adopted amendments during the parliamentary procedure of budget adoption, adoption of Amendments to the Law on the Foundations of Social Protection, Protection of War Victims, as well as the Decision on extraordinary pension adjustment by 3.9 percent, effective from May 2023.

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

In its explanation, the Ministry stated that, given that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its 3rd session held on May 19, 2023, adopted the Decision on extraordinary pension adjustment by 3.9 percent, starting with the May 2023 pension payment, an additional 69.6 million KM was needed for this adjustment in the current fiscal year.

In addition, with the adopted Amendments to the Law on the Foundations of Social Protection, Protection of Civilian War Victims, and Protection of Families with Children, the base applied from April 1, 2023, has increased, and in addition to the planned 160 million KM, approximately 67 million KM more was needed.

An additional 15.6 million KM has been secured for the payment of child allowance.
Ten million KM has been allocated to the Solidarity Fund of the FBiH Insurance and Reinsurance Institute.

Along with the adopted Amendments to the FBiH Budget for 2023, the Government, at the proposal of the FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, also adopted a conclusion whereby the FBiH Government calls on cantonal governments and cantonal health insurance institutes, which have reported a surplus, to join the FBiH Government's efforts in resolving the treatment of cancer patients and to allocate part of the funds needed for their treatment by the end of the year.