Minister Špirić with IMF Delegation on Stand-By Arrangement Realisation



Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Finance and Treasury dr Nikola Špirić received a Delegation of the International Monetary Fund, led by IMF Head of Mission Ron van Rooden.

A share assessment from today’s meeting, organised as  a part of the forth review of the IMF Stand-By Arrangement, is that the requirements stated in the letter of Intent were fulfilled, as at June 30, 2013, which was covered by the related reporting period.

The meeting also assessed that the BIH-level institutions fulfilled their part of commitments from the Letter of Intent, and so they should now focus their activities at the 2014 Budget planning.

The meeting emphasised that indirect tax collection controls should be strengthened, including bettered transparency in the area, as recommended also by last year’s IMF technical mission.

Minister Špirić, who is Chairman of the Steering Board of the Indirect Taxation Administration said that a thematic session was scheduled, devoted to the implementation of the IMF technical mission recommendations,  and that the Steering Board adopted necessary amendments of laws and regulations aimed to improve operations of the Indirect Taxation Administration and effectiveness in tax collection.

The IMF representatives assessed that in is necessary to maintain the fiscal discipline in the election year 2014.

Deputy Chairman of the  BIH Council of Ministers stressed that the positive development is that the first half of this year saw the improvement of economic indicators,  like the growth of industrial production, growth of GDP, and coverage of import by export, which is expected to encourage the real sector development and FDI attraction.

The IMF Delegation included IMF Resident Representative in BIH Ruben Atoyan.

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