The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will show its solidarity with the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina in this difficult period and will allocate 165 million Euro to support the country's healthcare sector and help the authorities stabilise the economy, Resident Representative for Bosnia Andrew Jewell said on Wednesday.

“We work as swiftly as possible to provide assistance within the framework of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). At this moment, we expect to allocate some 165 million Euro in the second half of April, to help the authorities increase the consumption for the healthcare sector and finance the measures to stabilise the economy. There is also a possibility of the final amount exceeding 165 million Euro if the IMF Executive Board decides to increase the loan limit within the RFI,” said Jewell.

He also said that Bosnia's Central Bank is the pillar of stability during this period of uncertainty and that its currency board has been successfully serving for more than two decades, contributing to the low inflation rate, financial stability and trust in the currency.

“Every attempt to use the currency reserves of the Central Bank for fiscal purposes would damage the currency board, would pose a threat to financial stability and a risk to develop significant inflation movements. In other words, that would mean that besides the economic and humanitarian crisis that Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing now there would also be a financial crisis and currency crisis,” said the IMF's official.