Press Release No. 17/520

IMF Reaches Staff-Level Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina on the First Review under the Extended Fund Facility Supported Program

December 22, 2017

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited Sarajevo on December 19-22, 2017 for discussions on the first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) supported program. At the end of the visit, IMF mission chief for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Nadeem Ilahi, issued the following statement:

“IMF staff and the BiH authorities have reached agreement, subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board, on policies that would allow IMF staff to recommend completion of the first review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) supported program. Consideration by the Executive Board, expected in early 2018, would follow the implementation of a number of conditions.

“The authorities have already met several conditions over the past few months. More recently, the BiH parliament has adopted an increase in the excise duty on fuels that will unlock large externally-financed infrastructure investment. And, the Republika Srpska parliament has approved the 2018 budget in line with IMF staff recommendations.

“The authorities are committed to implementing the remaining conditions in the coming days. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) parliament is expected to adopt the 2018 budget in line with IMF staff recommendations. And, the FBiH government is expected to initiate the due diligence of two FBiH state-owned telecom companies, BH Telecom and HT Mostar.

“Following Executive Board approval, the IMF is expected to disburse SDR 63.4125 million (approximately euro 76 million) on completion of the review.”