'Reforms Yet to Pay Off' in Bosnian Serb Entity

While the Republika Srpska, RS, government is working on its third set of economic and social reforms that it began to implementing in early 2015, local businessmen and private entrepreneurs say they still do not see any positive effects from the previous rounds of reforms.

"Not only that we did not get any benefits [from reforms] yet, but it is not even visible when we could get them," a visibly irritated Miroslav Turnsek, manager of Prijedor-based biscuit factory Mira, told BIRN.

Turnsek, like most other businessmen and economists, complain that the economic and social situation in the country is becoming unbearable. Political tensions, omnipresent corruption, dysfunctional yet expensive administration and complicated administrative procedures have scared off most domestic and foreign investors, pushing the country's economy into freefall and leading to record high unemployment.

Last year, the EU and the rest of the international community began work on a  set of reforms which, in the opinion of many international and local experts, could improve the economic and social situation in the country and bring it closer to EU membership by starting to adjust Bosnia's legislation and governance procedures in line with EU standards.

While this set of reforms is still under discussion, the RS government decided to forge ahead with its own reform agenda six months ago.

In the first two sets of reforms, the RS government introduced some fiscal relief but also strengthened the authority of and sanctions available to tax and financial inspectors and communal police.

In recent weeks, the RS government prepared its third set of reforms, which will aim to improve bankruptcy procedures to prevent businessmen from accruing huge debts,...