Bosnia could get 150 million Euro to fight the pandemic, the country’s international administrator, Valentin Inzko, told N1 in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

The High Representative of the international community in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement spoke after he participated in a meeting with more than 50 participants, including representatives of countries that are members of the Peace implementation Council – effectively countries overseeing Bosnia's peace.

“You would be surprised by how much help Bosnia will get,” Inzko said.

“What I heard from International Monetary Fund representatives is that 150 million Euro will be made available for Bosnia and Herzegovina and that, if the conditions are favourable and if the government expresses support, that amount could increase,” he added.

Inzko, himself 70 years old and in self-isolation for the past three weeks, said he hopes this pandemic will end well for Bosnia’s citizens. His Office recently stated that the adoption of a state budget is a precondition for stopping the coronavirus from spreading.

“This is absolutely the priority,” he said, reminding that the country’s budget had not changed over the past eight years.

“Eight years ago there were no migrants, there was no epidemic,” he said, arguing that the budget must be adapted to meet the challenges the country is facing.

He gave the example of Bosnia’s northwestern Brcko District, which adopted a special budget worth 40 million Bonsian Marks for mitigating the consequences of the epidemic.

“If Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts a budget that will be a signal for the international community to react and send aid,” he said.