The government of The FBIH entity will revise down its 2008 budget of 1.76 billion Bosnian Marks (1.23 billion US Dollars) after increased revenues allowed for cutting, the FBIH Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda said yesterday.
“The government will revise down the 2008 budget, the cuts will range from 200-400 million Bosnian Marks (100-200 million Euros),” Minister Bevanda said.
“The revised budget will represent a basis for the 2009 budget draft.Our macroeconomic projections showed that such a revised and reduced budget can be increased by only 3.6 percent next year,” he added.
Bevanda has been long warning that the budget was overstretched by unrealistic welfare payments promised under a pre-election law in 2006. Now he said the revision was made possible thanks to increased revenues from indirect taxation.
The 2008 budget was mostly social, with more than 700 million Bosnian Marks or 40 percent allocated for social categories, such as war veterans, invalids and civilian victims.
The fiscal system has become threatened by payments after the number of beneficiaries had risen to around 85,000 earlier this year. After inspections, their number fell to some 65,000.
Bevanda said he expected the FBIH entity to record fiscal deficit in 2008 but failed to provide details.