Additional Compensations for Judges and Persecutors from BiH Budget and Public Debt of 10,413.19 million BAM on 31 December 2013

The 58^th session of Committee on Finance and Budget of the Parliamentary Assembly’s HoR of BiH was held on Tuesday, 2 September 2014. 

The session which was chaired by the representative Emir Kabil achieved a quorum with the absence of representatives Saša Bursa? and Darko Babalj. The session, beside the representatives of department ministries and offices, was attended by guests from media and representatives of Strengthening Governmental Institutions and Processes in BiH (SGIP) project implementaed by the Centre for International Development SUNY in partnership with the Institute for Youth Development KULT.   

The discussion of the Committee members followed according to the items of the adoped agenda: 

1. Adopting the Record of the 57^th session of the Committee; 
2. Considering the Proposal of Law on Amendments of the Law on Salaries and other Compensation in Judiciary and Persecutional Institutions at the Level of Bosnia and Herzegovina – the first stage of Commission (proposed by: the Council of Ministers of BiH);
3. Considering the Collective Opinion on audit reports of the financial business management of the institutions in BiH for 2013 with a proposal of conclusions and Annexes 1. and 2. that comprise a unique whole with the Collective Opinion (made by the committee on finance and Budget of the Parliamentary Assembly’s HoR); Annex 1. of the Collective Opinion : Opinion of the Committee on audit reports on the financial business management of the institutions in BiH for 2013 with an auditory ‘positive opinion’ and a ‘positive opinion with emphasis on subject’; Annex 2 of the Collective Opinion: seven individual opinions of the Committee on audit reports on the financial business management of the institutions in BiH for 2013 with a determined ‘reserved opinion with emphasis on subject’; 
4. Considering the Information on State of Public Indebtness of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 31 December 2013 (made by the Ministry of Fianance and Treasury of BiH); 
5. Considering the initiative of the representative Zijad Jagodi? that states: “Pursuant to the Article 8 of the Parliamentary Assembly’s HoR of BiH Rules of Procedure, I am issuing a representative’s initiative for the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Council of Ministers of BiH that would continue to tax the profit of commercial banks in BiH for 2013 according to 50% tax rate until further notice. the stated funds would be directed towards resolving the reconstruction of flooded areas in BiH”;  
6. Considering the Budget Proposal of the Auditing Office for Institutions in BiH for 2015 (made by the Augiting Office for Institutions in BiH); 
7. Considering the 6-month financial report of the Auditing Office for the Institutions in BiH on 30 june 2014 (made by the Auditing Office for the Institutions in BiH). 

The greatest discussions during this session were held over the Proposal of Law on Amendments of the Law on Salaries and other Compensation in Judiciary and Persecutional Institutions at the Level of BiH and the Information on State of Public Indebtness of BiH on 31 December 2014.  

With one vote against, one restrained and five for, the Committee supported the Proposal of Law on Amendments of the Law on Salaries and other Compensation in Judiciary and Persecutional Institutions that provides for the state to finance the costs of food and transport and costs of accomodation and separate living compensation for 17 judges and persecutors. 

According to information on state of public indebtness in BiH in possession of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, the state of public indebtness of BiH on 31 December 2013 was 10,423.19 million BAM. The total external debt was 7,404.69 million BAM and the internal amounted to 3,018.50 million BAM. The participation of public debt in the GDB was around 40%. The indicators of indebtness are directly related to movement of the levels of indebtness and obligations for servicing debt according to the level of increase/decrease of GDB, export, as well as disposable income for servicing debts. The indebtness indicators in BiH have to be understood as general evaluations, since the GDB evaluations for the following period, as well as the estimates of the indicators affecting the source basis of the GDB, do not indicate to significant improvement. Still, the sustainability of debt will primarily determine the implementations of structural and economic reforms and economic growth. Most representatives evaluated the information from this report as concerning even though Macedonia is currently the only country less indebted than BiH of all the countries in the region. What is concerning is the fact that BiH has no indebtness strategy and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH is currently considering between devloping a single strategy for all governmental levels and four strategies for every governmental level. The representatives agree about the danger that new debts are not being used to create new values that would increase the efficiency of debt payments. it is interesting that SFRY owed $18 billion, while the cooperating countries of the former SFRY owed around 13% more, or 190 billion Euros.  

The Committee adopted the Collected Opinion on Audit reports for Financial Business Management of the Institutions in BiH for 2013 as well as the Budget Proposal of the Auditing Office for Institutions in BiH for 2015 and acknowledged the 6-month financial report of the Office for the first half of 2014. 

The Committee did not support the initiative of the representative Zijad Jagodi? since they determined that the banks would transfer the additional tax burdens to the citizens and the real sector as the greatest and most often credit users for maintaining their profit. 

The final session of the Committee in this assemblage was concluded by expressing mutual gratitude of the representatives for cooperation.