SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), October 16 (SeeNews) – Bosnian leaders agreed on Tuesday to adopt IMF-recommended legislation by the end of 2007 that would lead to effective centralised fiscal planning in the war-divided country.
The prime ministers of Bosnia’s two autonomous regions, the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic, the mayor of the neutral Brcko District and the head of the central government agreed to adopt a law at all levels of authority that would give legislative backing to the existing Fiscal Council.
The Fiscal Council consists of the finance ministers of the central government and the autonomous regions and Bosnia's central bank governor. Its purpose is to improve fiscal discipline and implement consolidated budget planning for all levels of government.
Currently, the Federation, the Serb Republic, the Brcko District and the central government have their own governments, parliaments and budgets. The Fiscal Council has no legislative basis and cannot enforce decisions on the governments.
“We have agreed the advancement of fiscal coordination […] We will have adopted all our budgets by December 31,” Bosnia’s Prime Minister Nikola Spiric told reporters after a conference on economic reform in the country held in Sarajevo.
Milorad Dodik, the Serb Republic Prime Minister, said: “We have agreed to pass a law on the Fiscal Council on [central] state level by December 31.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Bosnia, Graham Slack, told the conference central fiscal planning was essential for Bosnia, as fiscal policy is the governments’ only instrument available under the currency board system in the country, which makes independent monetary policy impossible.
An effective Fiscal Council is important for coordination; now risks of wrong policy choices exist, Slack said.
In December 20065, an IMF mission urged Bosnian authorities to create by the spring of 2007 a legislative basis for a more efficient, state-level budget planning.
The conference, organised by the top international peacekeeping body in Bosnia, the Office of the High Representative, produced a Platform for Action signed by all government leaders in Bosnia.
They agreed to improve social payment policies, reduce the level of public spending as percentage of Bosnia’s gross domestic product, move towards establishing central bank supervision and modernise labour legislation.