SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), May 24 (SeeNews) – The Council of the European Union has recommended to Bosnia to address obstacles to economic growth by further implementing a set of structural reforms.
Economic activity is expected to accelerate slightly in Bosnia by 2019, on the back of private consumption and private and public investment, the Council of the European Union said in a statement on Tuesday on the joint conclusions of the economic and financial dialogue between the bloc and the Western Balkans and Turkey.
Structural obstacles to growth and competitiveness in Bosnia include, among others, the absence of a common economic space, the lack of country-wide strategies in important sectors, widespread corruption and high tax burdens on labour, the Council said.
The Council made six recommendations to Bosnia and Herzegovina in light of the assessment of the country, which submitted its economic reform programme for the period 2017-2019 on January 31.
It invited Bosnia to enhance the growth-friendliness of public finances and take steps to reduce public sector payment arrears, including social sector contributions.
The Council also noted Bosnia should improve the provision of timely and exhaustive statistics, while strengthening capacities for consolidated macrofiscal analysis and planning at the country level. Strengthening the country-wide public debt management capacities at all levels is also something Bosnia should pay attention too.
The Council advised Bosnia to follow up on ongoing legislative changes and develop a comprehensive strategy fostering the resolution of NPLs to address the fragilities of bank balance sheets and thus help remove supply-side bottlenecks to credit extension.
In terms of Bosnia's obligations towards the Energy Community, the Council said the authorities should address the adoption of a country-wide energy sector reform strategy and a legal framework to regulate the area.
The Council also advised Bosnia to simplify, harmonise and ensure mutual recognition of business registration procedures between entities in order to ease doing business and hike employment.
Lastly, the Council recommended to Bosnia to strengthen the employment services to better assist job seekers, reduce the tax wedge and reinforce delineation of employment and social policy measures.
In December, Bosnia officially received the European Commission's questionnaire, based on which the EU will decide whether the country is ready to join the bloc.