Nezavisne novine: SARAJEVO – Decisions of the Fiscal Council of BiH on the amount of public expenditure will be executive for state and entity authorities. This was confirmed to the “Nezavisne” in the Ministry of Finances of BiH.

“The Law on Fiscal Council of BiH obligates the executive authority, i.e. the entity governments and the Council of Ministers of BiH, to sign the agreement on the basis of the achieved agreement on the amount of public expenditure, taking over responsibility for its execution”, said Ranko Šakota, the assistant of the Minister of Finances and Treasury of BiH.

The Council of Ministers established on Thursday the Draft Law on the Fiscal Council of BiH. State and entity prime ministers and the ministers of finances, will be the members of this Council. The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers is at the same time the chairperson of the future Fiscal Council.

“The Fiscal Council sets, or defines the framework of public expenditure in BiH. Its task is to ensure unified fiscal policy, coordination of fiscal units of fiscal policy in BiH, all with an objective of ensuring macroeconomic stability and sustainability of BiH”, clarified Šakota.

Representatives of state and entity authorities, for several years now, are trying to harmonise the Law on Fiscal Council of BiH, which will have a crucial role in adoption of the state and entity budgets. This Council will set how much money can be spent within one year, on the basis of which the state and entity budgets will be drafted.

The money from the so called consolidated budget will be divided on the basis of agreement of the Fiscal Council of BiH, in accordance with the competencies of the state and the entities.

“In that way we will ensure that no one can spend more money than allowed on the basis of parameters of rational and stable expenditure. So, it will be not be possible any more that any level of authority increases the expenditure and in that way endanger the fiscal stability of the country”, said Dragan Vrankić, the Minister of Finances and Treasury of BiH.

The established Draft Law on Fiscal Council of BiH, after the session of the Council of Ministers, was sent to the parliamentary procedure, and it should be enacted within a few months.