The Government of Canton Sarajevo determined the Budget Draft of Canton Sarajevo fort the year 2019 in the ammount of 928,370,000 BAM, as well as the Draft of the Law on Execution of the Budget. The Government sent the aforementioned acts to Canton Sarajevo Assembly for further procedure. On today’s press conference, the Minister of Finance of Canton Sarajevo, Jasmin Halebić said that this is the largest planned amount of the Canton Sarajevo Budget ever. “We managed to adopt the Budget on time every single time and that means that the Budget was adopted at the end of the current year for the following year. It is our intent to do everything we can to in order for this to happen in this year as well, despite the fact that this is an election year”, said Minister Halebić. Concerning the turnover part of the Budget Draft, the largest part of it (77%) is related to income on taxes, according to Minister Halebić. “In this part we have incomes from indirect taxes that amount to 430 million BAM, incomes from income tax in the amount of 144 million BAM and incomes from profit tax in the amount of 128 million BAM. These three positions make the largest part of the total Budget and have been significantly increased in the last four years”, said Minister Halebić and he also added that these are indicators of economic growth in Canton Sarajevo and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Concerning non-tax revenues, they amount to 15 percent of the Budget or 140 million BAM, according to Minister Halebić, while the incomes from current transfers and donations and debt receipts amount to 3 %. “We think that this Budget is realistically planned and that it is not ‘inflated’. In the last four years we pursued a kind of policy where we only planned budgets that were realistic”, highlighted Minister Halebić. When it comes to expenditure, the Capital Budget will amount to 150 million BAM, debts by issuing bonds will amount to 33 million and the planned debit on the international market will mainly be spent on traffic infrastructure projects. Means for 11.086 employee payments have also been planned in the Budget of Canton Sarajevo. The number of employees has been decreased by 368. The basis for payments in the amount of 315 BAM has also been integrated into the Budget. Concerning Budget deficit, it is expected that it will be around 70 million BAM in this year, that means, it will be reduced by approximately 38 percent. The Prime minister Adem Zolj said that this Budget is an all in one – development, stabilizing and social Budget. A number of capital projects have been planned, but also the improvement of standard for social categories. “We will establish order and all means intended for vulnerable categories will, from now on, be designated, for example, if the money is intended for heating it will be payed to utility company. In this way we will prevent any kind of malverzation”, said Prime Minister Zolj. He also announced that the construction of University Library will be continued. “Realization of EBRD project for reconstruction of water supply network is planned for the next year. It is very important that the reduction of water is no long, and the works that are currently being executed on repairing of the network will be necessary”, said the Prime Minister. Means for opening a pediatric department in Emergency support, along with one more modern department in the area of General Hospital. The reconstruction of tram railway from Ilidža to Hrasnica has also been planned. That means that new trams, trolleybuses will be procured and the project will be financed from EBRD funds. In partnership with Center Municipality Sarajevo, the Ministry of Justice and Administration will participate in the construction of Austrian House intended for national minorities. Ministry of Veteran's affairs managed to secure apartments for the shaheed families, as well for the families of killed fighters. The Prime Minister also announced the construction of footpath from Trebević to Kazani, as well as the construction of gas line from Igman to Hadžići. The Prime Minister thinks that the Budget amount can be doubled if you take into account the fact that Canton Sarajevo has valuable assets in other countries, more precise in the Dalmatia and Montenegro geographic area and in Belgrade as well. “The Budget of the Ministry of Economy, four years ago was 9 million BAM, and right now the Budget amounts to 30 million. We will start with the project Black River – Artificial Accumulation for Sarajevo Water Supply. We planned 1 million BAM for the completion of this project. We also started preparing the tourist season on Bjelašnica. Vertical transport as well as artificial snowing has been completed and we are ready to start the winter season”, said the Minister of Economy, Muharem Šabić.
