The budget for BiH’s institutions and international obligations for 2021 was not adopted by the end of this year, which is why Bosnia’s Council of Ministers (CoM) adopted a three-month Decision on Provisional Financing, the CoM Chairman, Zoran Tegeltija, said on Wednesday, adding that he expects the budget to be adopted within the first quarter of the upcoming year.

In his press conference where he summarised his first year in office, Tegeltija expressed hope that the draft budget will be sent to Bosnia's tripartite Presidency soon which will then submit it to Parliament.

He said that the key priorities of Bosnia’s CoM will remain the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, EU integrations and the migrant crisis in 2021.

“The approval of the vaccine does represent a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is not enough to solve the health problem of the number of patients and I hope that in the first half of 2021, with mass vaccination, the problem of protecting public health will be solved,” he said.

According to projections at the end of 2021, BiH should have a gradual economic growth rate, but this will not enable the country to reach its level at was at the end of 2019, he said, but added that BiH will be on the right track if there are positive trends in the first half of the next year.

Tegeltija also commented on the measures neighbouring Serbia introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic – all foreigners who want to enter the country, including Bosnians, must present a negative PCR test at the border since December 20.

The Health Ministry of Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity asked the CoM to introduce the same measure in BiH for Serbian citizens, but the Health Ministry in the other semi-autonomous entity, Republika Srpska (RS), opposes it, he explained.

“I am not a supporter of reciprocity in situations like this. I am focused on protecting the health of our citizens with the recommendation of our health institutions,” Tegeltija said.