Government's Subsidy Policy: Businesses Being Pushed

By A. Aljović

The Sarajevo Canton Government approved half a million marks in subsidies for several Sarajevo companies. Žurnal reported that Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković awarded the money to companies whose owners are his party colleagues. The former Prime Minister Nedžad Branković's company - Saraj Inženjering - received non-refundable subsidies. Among the "subsidized" are the butcher shop owned by Muris Mujanović and the SERDA Development Agency, whose director is a member of the SDA Main Board and the SDA Cadre Commission, Šefkija Okerić...

After pressure from the media and the public, the Government abandoned these incentives. That is no longer important. What is important is the intention of the Government and Prime Minister Konaković. Had it not been for the public, the money would have ended up in the accounts of these companies. There is no guarantee that it will not end up there now, after the promised ban. The money could simply enter through another door. How much such money has already been distributed without the public knowing or ever finding out?

Can it be said that the SDA has its own principles of market economy? How would these companies function without subsidies? Butchers have always lived well in all systems. Why do "SDA" butchers need subsidies from the public coffers? Either they are mediocre craftsmen who do not know their job properly, or they lack empathy for others. Both cases are devastating for them and for the party.

The question is how much money is being laundered through such payments and whether some companies are "machines" for laundering party money? Subsidies are not only distributed by the Sarajevo government.     

Even if this money was awarded legally, it was not awarded morally. Economists talk about how money from the budget should not be given to already established commodity producers. This type of incentive is needed by those who are just starting their business. The state helps large producers through tax or other benefits. In BiH, the state helps large producers at the expense of small ones, but large ones do not always pay taxes to the state.

The concept of subsidies implemented by the SDA leads to those who have - having even more, and those who do not have - will never have.

Is the SDA doing the entrepreneurs a disservice by "pushing" them? The government pumped hundreds of millions of marks into Croatian Agrokor. The media wrote about how money intended for agricultural subsidies from the Croatian public budget almost entirely ends up in Agrokor's accounts. Small producers are left with crumbs. When the marriage between the government and Todorić broke down, Agrokor fell to its knees. That is not much satisfaction for the citizens. Because in that divorce, the citizens suffer the most, and the newlyweds the least. We in BiH perhaps know this best. Just last weekend, Agrokor's Velpro, which operated in BiH, laid off more than 150 workers.

After these payments, one would say that money in BiH is clean, until politicians wash it.