April 6 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is expected to double its pledge of emergency financing to Bosnia in the context of the coronavirus crisis to 330 million euro ($356 million), the country's state-level government said.
The amount of 330 million euro, equal to 100% of Bosnia's IMF quota, will be extended via the Fund's Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), the Council of Ministers said in a statement on Friday, after its chairman Zoran Tegeltija held a video conference with the head of the IMF mission to Bosnia, Martin Petri, and the IMF resident representative, Andrew Jewell.
The IMF board of directors will make a decision on increasing the amount on April 6, the statement reads.
The Council of Ministers added that it is of utmost importance for the IMF that Bosnia's two autonomous entities - the Federation and the Serb Republic, each with its own government and parliament, reach an agreement on how they will distribute the funding among themselves. In the opposite case, the disbursement of the financing will be put on hold.
Furthermore, the IMF representatives have expressed disappointment that the authorities in the two entities have not discussed the economic stimulus measures they are adopting to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus crisis with the IMF or other international lenders even though they expect those institutions to significantly participate in the financing of the relief measures, the Bosnian state-level government noted.
Zoran Tegeltija said last month that the government plans to use the IMF financing to support Bosnia's health system, as well as to provide direct support to the local economy.
Last week, Tegeltija asked international financial institutions to provide jointly at least 600 million euro in support of the Bosnian economy and healthcare system affected by the coronavirus crisis.
($=0.927243 euro)