KS Government Adopts Budget Rebalance: 37 Million KM for Economy and Real Sector Salaries

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Sarajevo Canton Government today adopted the Draft Amendments to the KS Budget for this year for the purpose of disbursing funds to aid the economy, specifically for employee salaries for April and May, and for March for remaining business entities that have exercised this right, as well as for continued direct assistance to the economy in accordance with the sector's requests.

The Budget Amendments provide 37 million KM for these purposes, of which 20 million KM is planned for salary payments in business entities whose applications have been processed and who have met the prescribed conditions for receiving funds. The funds will be directed towards salary payments for 35,000 employees in 6,300 business entities, for the aforementioned three months.

The remaining funds will be directed towards assisting the economy, according to the Program of Short-Term and Medium-Term Measures to Mitigate the Negative Economic Consequences on the Economy of Sarajevo Canton Caused by the Coronavirus.

The KS Government decided on the Rebalance due to constant and justified requests from entrepreneurs who can no longer wait for funds from the IMF to aid the economy, which the FBiH Government has not yet paid to Sarajevo Canton due to procedural reasons.

"The rebalance in this case is functional because, once adopted by the KS Assembly, it will enable the Government to react quickly in the future without assembly procedures, if further reallocation of approved funds is necessary according to the future needs of the economy," stated the KS Minister of Finance, Jasmin Halebić.

As emphasized, the IMF funds are not in question, and once they are paid to Sarajevo Canton, they will be incorporated into the KS Budget, along with revenues from other sources.

The budget rebalance has been sent to the assembly procedure, and it is expected to be considered at the Assembly session on July 28 this year.

The KS Minister of Economy, Draško Jeličić, stated that business entities will be informed in a timely manner about the method of fund disbursement.

Before the adoption of the Budget Rebalance, the KS Prime Minister Mario Nenadić and Ministers Jeličić and Halebić held a meeting with representatives of employers of Sarajevo Canton, to whom they announced the decision to initiate it, and determined the future plan of action for the Government and employers to aid the economy.

After the amendments, the total KS Budget amounts to 1,135,335,825 KM. Through the Rebalance, necessary interventions have also been made on several budget positions to ensure the smooth execution of legal obligations and the realization of planned activities.