SARAJEVO, Feb 4 (Hina) - The process of privatisation in Bosnia-Herzegovina can be assessed as partially sucessful, given that the process has not yet covered companies of strategic interest, whose sale is expected to yield the most
important financial results.
SARAJEVO, Feb 4 (Hina) - The process of privatisation in Bosnia-
Herzegovina can be assessed as partially sucessful, given that the
process has not yet covered companies of strategic interest, whose
sale is expected to yield the most important financial results.
#L#
This is an estimate of the economy department of the Office of the
High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo, released in the latest issue
of the OHR's business bulletin on Tuesday.
Until the end of 2002, the two entities -- the Croat-Muslim
federation and the Serb republic -- managed to sell 40 percent of
state-held stock in various companies, mostly in small and medium-
sized firms. The privatisation was mainly conducted with
certificates, i.e. voucher privatisation. All of this poses a
question about the possibility of a long-term survival of these
companies as most of them need fresh capital for the revival of
production.
In the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 260 out of 1,064 small and
medium-sized companies have so far been privatised, and in the
Republic of Srpska 129 out of 276 (47 percent).
The OHR warns that in the Croat-Muslim entity only 17 of 56
companies, labelled as strategic, have undergone ownership
transformation. In the other entity, only four strategic companies
have been privatised.
The basic reasons for such a situation, according the OHR, are a
lack of interest of foreign investors, high debts, outdated
technology, slow negotiations and excessive red tape.
(hina) ms sb