Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have offered assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina, calling on the country's authorities not to lower taxes, a move announced by the authorities as part of measures aimed at helping citizens cope with rising inflation.

On the margins of a regular annual World Bank/IMF Constituency meeting, taking place in Sarajevo, IMF Deputy Managing Director Bo Li met with BiH Prime Minister Zoran Tegeltija and the finance ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its two entities.

The BiH government said in a statement that IMF officials stated clearly that they were not in favour of tax cuts, but nonetheless expressed readiness to support the government in implementing social measures targeting individual categories of citizens.

BiH officials informed IMF representatives about the policies and measures taken in response to inflation growth, most of which refer to increasing budget outlays for all categories of citizens to help them maintain their standard of living.

An initiative has been launched at the national level to reduce VAT on basic food products and temporarily suspend petrol excise taxes so as to help citizens cope with the growing inflation, however, none of those measures has taken effect yet due to complicated procedures for their adoption and entry into force.