Bosnia has been experiencing an economic decline for over three months economy professor Anto Domazet told N1 Thursday adding that according to the World Bank 30,000 to 80,000 people will lose their jobs in the country and that the GDP will drop by 5 percent.

“But we also have some worrying as well as optimistic signs. According to the Taxation Authority, 21,000 companies with some 143,000 employees applied for subsidies, but a month earlier the number of companies was 25,000 and the number of their employees was some 174,000,” Domazet noted.

“As far as unemployment is concerned, there are some pretty positive indicators there, as well, because the number of unemployed has dropped by some 25-26,000 and the number keeps dropping further. Obviously the measures taken by the government are bringing people back to work,” the professor said.

Speaking about Bosnia's industrial output which dropped by 15.9 percent in May this year compared to last year, Domazet said this is quite worrying because this number refers to the drop of exports which is expected to get better once foreign markets bounce back.

The professor also pointed out that it was always clear that the burden of the crisis would be carried by private business owners and in that sense, he noted that they acted pretty responsibly.

“The government assisted them only through contributions for the minimum wage. The subsidies helped mostly social institutions funded from the Federation (FBiH) entity budget,” he commented.