Bosnian political leaders discuss distribution of aid package with IMF

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A new round of meetings started Saturday between Bosnia’s political parties who have to determine how much which part of the country will get from the potentially 330 million euro the International Monetary Fund has agreed to lend Bosnia to fight the coronavirus crisis.

The IMF has agreed to double its original sum for Bosnia but will approve the loan only after the country’s two semi-autonomous regions – the Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) and the Bosniak-Croat majority Federation (FBiH) – determine how much each entity will get.

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Leaders of the main ethnic parties, Bosnia's Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), the Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA) and the Serb Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) are meeting with EU and IMF officials.

The head of the HDZ BiH, Dragan Covic, said he hoped this meeting will “remove the misunderstandings concerning the IMF package” and stop the media disinformation campaign of the SDA.

A letter of intent to accept the IMF aid package has been signed by Bosniak and Serb officials but not by the Croat representatives.

According to the SDA, Croat representatives have suddenly demanded that it should also ne defined how much money which canton in FBiH will get.

FBiH is divided into 10 cantons, some of which are dominated by Bosniaks and others by Croats.