Members of the BiH Council of Ministers met today with an IMF delegation about the economic reforms required of BiH under its agreements with the organization. The officials present included CoM Chair Denis Zvizdic, Finance Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda, and Foreign Trade Minister Kirko Sarovic.
[IMF chief of mission Ron] van Rooden said that it is essential to work on fiscal consolidation in order for debt to have a decreasing trend, as well as an increase of revenue to control expenses in a higher quality manner. He said that there is a visible commitment and higher level of coordination of all governments, and that this is a quality and positive step. He said that for any new IMF program with BiH there must be enough previous measures for the intention of improving the business climate in BiH to be visible.
They discussed reforms in the tax sector, customs regulations, the financial sector, and expressed an interest in making progress in public administration reform, which is of interest to all levels of government. Chairman Zvizdic informed the IMF delegation that the Council of Ministers has an agenda of future economic reforms that treats identical problems, pointing out that the start of implementation of credible reforms should be a previous condition. He said that the Council in the coming period will be completely dedicated to economic development in BiH.
