Oslobođenje: The Federal Government has yesterday confirmed and by an urgent procedure sent to the parliamentary procedure the proposal of changes and amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance.

By confirmed changes it has been regulated that the rights from the PDI also achieve the employees insured by special regulations in the Federation of BiH, employees in state institutions with residence in the FBiH, and professional military persons in the Armed forces of BiH.

It has been predicted that an age pension cannot be higher from four average pensions paid in December 2007 and harmonized with the paying coefficient for that month. Maximal pension is 1.390 KM.

The authorized Minister, Perica Jelečević has after the session in Sarajevo said to the journalists how the changes of the existing Law have been necessary because of removing of illogicalities from the regulations on the manner of harmonization of the lowest and highest pensions, and reconciliation with the Law on Contributions, whose application will start at the beginning of next year.

“If the law on this question was not changed, the amounts of minimal and an average pension would be close”, Jelečević has said. He has added how for benefited pensions 140 million KM, or 210 million KM, with the existing debt of 70 million KM, is needed.

Jelečević has announced that at the end of 2009 will be deliberated reduction of contribution, for health insurance by 3-4%, and even more for hiring.

The Minister of Finance, Vjekoslav Bevanda has reminded yesterday at the press conference that because of unrealistic planning of budget (for about 400 million KM), in ten months this year it has come to deficit of revenues over expenditures of 73 million KM. Currently, he says, it is being worked on the control of budget users, who have been deaf to the request to reduce their expenditures in this year. Their expenditures will be suspended in next year as well.

To the question how the Government thinks to overcome this deficit, Bevanda has said it is “just outliving it”. Because of this year’s bad experience with the budget, in the next year the social giving, salaries and the obligations for internal and external debt, will be kept at the same level, while everything else will be selected, Bevanda has said.

The Minister of Finance could not answer on how the announced increase to the officials of the FBiH will inject itself into that sentence.

The Government has not yesterday deliberated the proposal of the annex of contract on participation in Zenica’s ironworks by increasing the capital. As it has been explained, the Federation of BiH has not fulfilled the obligations, nor did it create the conditions for respecting the basic contract.