It is about the credits, which have been approved to our country earlier, and some of them, according to finding of "Dnevni avaz", date since 1998, reports BHRT. The data says that the FBiH has been indebted with almost 900 million KM, the RS with almost 600 million, while the District, in comparison to entities, has been given a non-significant amount. The biggest amounts of credits have been approved by the European Bank for Renovation and Development (EBRD) with more than 850 million and the World Bank with more than 350 million, and among the bigger credits is also the one approved by the Spanish Government in the amount of around 140 million KM.
Scandalous is the fact that only because of the interest rates and expenditures for unused funds (commitment fee) BiH has lost exactly 16.833.108 KM. Only in 2008, 4.462.517 KM has been paid, 4.034.942 to the EBRD, 222.387 to the World Bank, 57.340 to Spain, 51.660 to Austria and 92.494 KM to the KFW. According to our information, the biggest part of paid expenditures belongs to the project Željeznice II due to a very slow withdrawal of funds caused by latency of the procedure of selecting the consultant for drafting the project documentation.
Slow withdrawals of funds have also been noticed on the project "Sarajevska zaobilaznica" due to the latency of main projects and complexes for expropriation and a long-term process of expropriation. Project "Električne energije" has had a significant latency because of a long process of ratification in the Parliament of the FBiH and change of legal regulation related to organization of electro-economy system. Usually, commitment fee is being calculated by majority of foreign creditors, and a height of money which is being paid, depends on the contracting date of effectiveness, and on nature of project and dynamics by which the project beneficiaries use the funds they received. This is the cost calculated as unused on approved funds, and as such, it is generally being inserted into the conditions of business of foreign creditors.
The Commitment fee in the EBRD is 0.5%. Also, by general conditions of this bank it has been defined a front and fee (one time use provision) in the amount of 1% of loan, and it is being paid per declaring the credit effectiveness. In the World Bank the commitment fee is maximally 0.5%, and height of this rate depends on the estimate of sustainability of debt, which is being done by the WB for each country. BiH has been paying the commitment fee to the WB by the rate of 0.5% (end of 2003 and beginning of 2004), 0.35 (end of 2004 and beginning of 2005), 0.30 (end of 2005 and beginning of 2006), 0.20 (end of 2006 and beginning of 2007), 0.10 (end of 2007 and beginning of 2008) and 0% at the beginning of this year.
Contracted commitment fee by other creditors, by which BiH has also get indebted, are: 0.25% by KFW, 0.35% by Raiffeisen Bank, 0.3% by BAWAG…
The Minister of Finance and Treasury, Dragan Vrankić has at the end of March warned the Prime Minister of the RS, Milorad Dodik, and former Prime Minister of the FBiH, Nedžad Branković and entity departmental ministers that the "the users of funds in both entities withdraw the approved funds too slowly" and that the "interest rate on withdrawn funds and expenditure are being paid from the budget". This call to entity leaders has been sent along with the request of Vrankić to immediately "engage the funds for intention credits".