Bosnia Must Meet IMF Loan Terms

The International Monetary Fund warned Bosnia on Tuesday that it must meet the terms of its loan arrangement with the lender to get the program back on track and boost economic growth and job creation, Reuters reported. The IMF halted the €550 million ($645.37 million) stand-by loan program in February after Bosnian authorities failed to carry out economic reforms agreed in November last year. The program is part of a wider reform package devised by the European Union to guide the Balkan country towards faster integration with the bloc. Bosnia’s two autonomous regions have made some progress on structural reforms but implementation of some of the key measures “has been much slower than expected”, the IMF said in a statement. The Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation must adopt 2018 budgets, while the central parliament has to pass a law raising taxes on fuel and another law on deposit insurance, it said. Political bickering in the ethnically divided country has prevented the passage of the fuel tax law, which is required to unlock funding for transport infrastructure that would boost growth and create jobs.