March 8 (SeeNews) - Bosnia and Herzegovina must deliver on its reform pledges by the end of April to continue receiving funding under its current three-year loan deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country's state-level government said.
The release of the second loan tranche has been delayed because Bosnia has failed to meet the reform commitments described in the letter of intent submitted to the IMF last year, but the country still has time to save the deal, the government said in a statement following a meeting on Tuesday between members of the cabinet and IMF mission officials.
The IMF has given Bosnia until the end of April to meet its obligations before it launches concrete discussions on the continuation of the arrangement and the release of the second tranche.
Francisco Parodi, the IMF resident representative in Bosnia, told SeeNews last month the Fund has delayed the release of the second tranche because the country's authorities have failed to meet the agreed reform targets.
Following the announcement, politicians from Bosnia's entity the Serb Republic speculated that the arrangement was under threat and might be cancelled if the country failed to deliver on reform commitments by March.
In September last year, the IMF approved a three-year 553.3 million euro ($583.3 million) loan to Bosnia and Herzegovina to support the country’s economic reform agenda. The disbursement of funds hinges on the implementation of a set of reforms which should better the country's economy.
An IMF mission is on a visit to Bosnia until March 16, to hold meetings with the entity governments and representatives of relevant institutions.
Bosnia is made up of two entities, the Serb Republic and the Federation.
($=0.947387 euro)