BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), July 21 (SeeNews) – The government of Bosnia's Federation said it will take action to abolish the import tax on unalloyed aluminium at the request of local aluminium smelter Aluminij.
The decision will now be forwarded to Bosnia's state-level government, the Council of Ministers, the entity government said in a statement following its weekly session on Thursday.
In February, Aluminij said it has proposed to the government to abolish the import tax on unalloyed aluminium to cut production costs and boost output. Aluminij could melt 25,000 tonnes of unalloyed aluminium annually by using fuel gas instead of expensive electricity, which will boost its output by 30%, the company said.
According to the government, if the import tax on unalloyed aluminium is abolished, Aluminij will produce 180,000 t of aluminium in 2017, above its plan of 111,000 t. Additionally, annual exports will grow by some $50 million (43 million euro).
The government of Bosnia's Federation owns 44% of Aluminij, as much is controlled by workers and minority shareholders, while the Croatian government holds a stake of 12%.
Aluminij is based in Mostar, in the Federation, one of the two autonomous entities that form Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other is the Serb Republic.
($=0.859037 euro)