August 17 (SeeNews) - Following are some of the main stories in the online versions of Bosnian media on Monday morning and over the weekend. SeeNews has not verified these reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy:
NEZAVISNE NOVINE
- Many municipalities in Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat Federation have not cut the salaries of administrative workers and have no plans to do so, although they are obliged to curb public spending under the terms of Bosnia’s stand-by deal with the International Monetary Fund. As a result, the monthly salaries of some of the municipal governors will reach 2,500 marka, higher than the July salary of the Federation’s prime minister, which will be some 1,600 marka in line the Savings Law.
- Bosnia’s biggest fuel retailer, Energopetrol, majority-owned by Hungarian-Croatian oil joint-venture MOL/INA, will invest more than 20 million marka in the overhaul of 15-16 pump stations by the end of the year, Energopetrol’s director, Franjo Bozic, said. The spending is part of the consortium's post-privatisation obligations to invest 20 million marka in the Bosnian company in the first year after it goes private. The deadline for the fulfillment of that commitment expired in March 2008, Nezavisne Novine said.
- The construction of the Sava gas pipeline across Bosnia’s Serb Republic could be unblocked in the autumn after it becomes clear whether the Republic will receive a big enough share of the natural gas that it will carry, Radomir Njezic, a co-owner in local firm Slavija International said. Slavija International was awarded a concession on the construction project in 2002 but the undertaking was stalled as the Serb Republic insisted it is guaranteed a share of the supplies.
- Rising metal prices on the world commodity exchanges and a gradual pick-up in domestic aluminium and steel production indicate that Bosnia’s metallurgical industry could recover from the downturn at the end of this or the beginning of next year, Midhat Cehajic from Bosnia’s Foreign Trade Chamber said.
DNEVNI AVAZ
- The budget of Bosnia’s Brcko district showed a deficit of 25 million marka for the first half of 2009 as revenue fell 12% short of planned, Brcko Mayor Dragan Pajic said. He added that this year's budget could fall bellow 200 million marka versus the initially projected 213 million marka due to the crisis.
- Bosnia’s power utility Elektroprivreda HZ HB said it will invest 17 million euro in the overhaul of existing and the construction of new distribution infrastructure at all of its units. The project will be financed with a 11 million euro European Investment Bank credit and 6.0 million of own funds.
CAPITAL.BA
- One-time Bosnian construction giant Hidrogradnja is on the brink of a financial collapse after incurring a loss of 2.5 million marka in the first six months of the year, according to a report in daily Dnevni Avaz.
(1 euro=1.95583 marka)