KS Government and Employers' Association: Parafiscal levies hinder economic growth and new investments

SARAJevo, (Patria) - The Government of Sarajevo Canton held its first thematic session today, which had five initiatives from the Employers' Association of Sarajevo Canton on its agenda. These include measures and steps that need to be taken jointly in order to achieve economic growth, reduce the grey economy, increase employment, and attract investments.

“This Government wants to help those people who take business risks, employ a large number of people, and fill our budgets from which healthcare, education, as well as the salaries of all of us working in administration and the public sector are paid,” stated the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, Edin Forto.

While thanking the Government for convening the session on topics particularly important to them, the President of the Employers' Association of KS, Safudin Čengić, emphasized that this is the first time the Government has become involved in solving accumulated problems and creating a better business environment in such a direct manner.

“We are pleased that our document of expectations from the new government aligns with the programmatic goals of this Government and Assembly. Today's session has shown that there is a willingness from the Government to turn concrete proposals into action,” said Čengić.

Nijaz Skenderagić, from this Association, assessed this session as atypical for people from the business community and that a message was sent that there are government structures that want to extend a hand to all potential domestic and foreign investors. One of the conclusions of this session is the formation of a coordination body that will deal with parafiscal levies in Sarajevo Canton, which employers highlight as a particular burden in their business operations and which affects the reduced competitiveness of the domestic economy. In addition to representatives of the Employers' Association, representatives of the ministries of economy, finance, and communal economy will also work on the analysis, rationalization, reduction, or abolition of certain levies.

The Association's proposal to involve employers in the drafting of the Government's work program was accepted, and an initiative was sent to the Assembly for their involvement in the working bodies of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly.

Returning success to Sarajevo, as emphasized by the Minister of Finance, Amel Kovačević, is the desire and intention of this Government. Successful business people are good partners for this because, with adequate regulations and laws, they can ensure conditions for a better business environment with their knowledge, experience, and resources.

The Ministry of Communal Economy announces a review of the prices of all communal services, which is one of the important problems affecting both employers and large industrial companies.

“We all want to work in a transparent manner, and we will involve employers in this. Prices will no longer be set solely in the interest of ministries and public companies; instead, we want to relieve the real sector from such high communal levies. We will also open a dialogue with individual consumers to reach optimal solutions,” said the Minister of Communal Economy and Infrastructure, Srđan Mandić.

As emphasized by the Minister of Economy, Haris Bašić, addressing parafiscal levies is the beginning of a process that will jointly lead to ideas and programs for creating a better economic environment, which will not harm anyone but will functionally improve the system.