Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) region raised the minimum wage to 540 Bosnian marks (some €276) as well as the non-taxable part of the salary from 500 to 700 Bosnian marks (approx. €357), Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.

RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic said after the government session that they opted for this so they could raise the salaries for all the employees in this entity.

The RS government also adopted the Draft Law on salaries of employees in public institutions in the field of health, and Amendments to the Law on salaries of employees in the field of higher education and student standards, employees in primary and secondary schools and dormitories, in the field of culture, the Ministry of Interior as well as employees in the field of justice, judge and prosecutor.

These laws and amendments are yet to be confirmed by the RS parliament for which the government will request a special session in order to end the entire procedure by the end of May, expecting their implementation from June.

Viskovic said the government earmarked some 70 million Bosnian marks from the Budget for these purposes.
The Prime Minister noted that the budget deficit made by this salary increase will be compensated by the growth of revenues this year.

He stressed that with the new increase, “the minimum wage in the RS will be €276 euros, while the minimum wage is Bosnia’s other entity, the Federation (FBiH) is €208, in Serbia it is €272, from July 1 in Montenegro it is €250 and in North Macedonia it amounts to €247.”

(€1 = BAM1.955)