Bosnia’s Central Parliament Lower House Adopts Balanced 2009 Budget - Media

The budget is some 18% higher than the revised 2008 budget of 1.200 billion marka. Bosnia’s central government budget comprises financing for the country's central institutions and payments servicing its foreign debt. The country’s two autonomous parts formed after the 1992-95 war – the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic – have their own budgets.

The 2009 central budget has now to be approved by the parliament’s upper house to take effect.

Bosnia’s central government had to adopt temporary financing for the first quarter of this year after parliament failed to vote on the budget before the end of 2008.

The Federation adopted the region’s 2009 budget in December, setting both spending and revenue at 1.601 billion marka, lower than the respective targets budgeted for 2008. The Serb Republic has also adopted a balanced budget for 2009, with both revenue and spending targets set 6.0% higher than in 2008 at 1.670 billion marka.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bosnian marka)