Short-term liabilities of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity railway company 'RS Railway' were higher at the end of last year than the value of current assets of this public company by at least BAM 206.5 million (around EUR 103 million), an independent auditing company warned.

The report claims that all this indicates there is significant uncertainty that the company will not be able to regularly settle its obligations and operate on the principle of business stability.

The report adds the company constantly operates with a loss. The ‘Grant Thornton’ gave the ‘RS Railways’ a reserved opinion for its business results in 2017 as well as in 2016. Auditors note that at the end of last year, the company reported liabilities to the RS Government in the amount of BAM 158.4 million (around EUR 80 million), arising from the settlement of due obligations under loans from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the governments of Portugal, Serbia and Poland, which the RS government settled on behalf of the ‘RS Railway.’

At the end of last year, the company also had liabilities on account of salaries and compensation to workers in the amount of BAM 32.4 million (around EUR 15 million).  

There are as many as 560 litigation cases against the company with a total value of BAM 27.1 million (around EUR 14 million), out of which 493 were labour disputes, amounting to BAM 11.1 million (around EUR 5.5 million).

The auditors warned that the amount of the final losses could be increased on account of costs of these court proceedings and default interest rates.

 (EUR 1 = BAM 1.95583)