Bosnia’s Federation Parliament Lower House Approves 2009 Budget - Media

The upper chamber is expected to approve the budget on Tuesday.

The Muslim-Croat Federation is one of the two autonomous parts forming Bosnia, and the other is the Serb Republic. The two parts have separate budgets. Bosnia also has central government and institutions which have their own budget.

The latest revision of the Federation's 2008 budget envisages deficit of some 53.1 million marka, with revenue set at 1.781 billion marka and expenditure at 1.834 billion marka. The deficit was to be financed through the World Bank's Business Adjustment Credit (BAC) programme and the government's escrow account.

The Federation government's escrow account accumulates revenue from sales of state-owned assets and the succession of assets from former Yugoslavia, of which Bosnia and Herzegovina was once part.

The Serb Republic parliament adopted last week a 6.0% higher balanced budget of 1.67 billion marka for 2009. The central parliament is expected to adopt Bosnia’s 2009 budget of 1.637 billion marka before the end of the year, or else the government will have to approve temporary financing.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bosnian marka)