The Federation was unable to pass an entity budget before the end of 2014, due to delays in the formation of the entity government and legislature.
The FBiH government’s composition has yet to be determined by the coalition members. The House of Peoples, which would have to approve a budget, cannot be formed until all cantons delegate their representatives to the body.
Just prior to the end of the year, the Federation’s House of Representatives passed a decision on the temporary financing of entity institutions. Even that stopgap measure, however, would need to be approved by the House of Peoples to go into effect.
Ante Krajina, the Federation’s old Finance Minister, who is still in office, on Monday said the decision on the technical financing of institutions will allow payments to continue to pensions and salaries of state servants of more than 215 million euro for the first quarter.
“The [annual] budget has to be adopted by March 31 the latest,” he warned. “Otherwise, after that, there will be no expenditure on any purpose except paying off of debts.”
Krajina also noted that the decision on temporary financing does not allow for any kind of new programmes, or any other changes, as it just mirrors the set-up in the first quarter of this year.
The decision has to be confirmed by the House of Peoples, the other chamber of the entity assembly. However, this has not been formed yet, as not all of the ten cantons of the entity have delegated representatives yet. It is likely be formed by the end of January.
