SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Nov 12 (Hina) - At the beginning of this week, +the Government of Republika Srpska reached a decision to devalue +the Yugoslav dinar thus causing increased social tensions in the +entity.+ In line with this
decision, the official rate of the Yugoslav dinar, +in relation to the official BH currency - the convertible mark (KM), +has been set in proportion of 7.5:1.0, instead of the previous +5.9:1.0. + The official Yugoslav currency has thus been devalued by an +additional 36 percent by the authorities of one entity of another +country. According to the Law on the Central Bank of Bosnia-+Herzegovina, this institution, headed by a New Zealander Peter +Nicholl, is the only institution authorised to conduct the state's +monetary policy, including the setting of the exchange rate in +relation to the currencies of other countries.+ The introduction of the convertible ma
SARAJEVO/BANJA LUKA, Nov 12 (Hina) - At the beginning of this week,
the Government of Republika Srpska reached a decision to devalue
the Yugoslav dinar thus causing increased social tensions in the
entity.
In line with this decision, the official rate of the Yugoslav dinar,
in relation to the official BH currency - the convertible mark (KM),
has been set in proportion of 7.5:1.0, instead of the previous
5.9:1.0.
The official Yugoslav currency has thus been devalued by an
additional 36 percent by the authorities of one entity of another
country. According to the Law on the Central Bank of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, this institution, headed by a New Zealander Peter
Nicholl, is the only institution authorised to conduct the state's
monetary policy, including the setting of the exchange rate in
relation to the currencies of other countries.
The introduction of the convertible mark did not push out the Yugo-
dinar and the Croatian kuna, which have remained legal means of
payment. However, all final bills are to be expressed in
convertible marks.
Aside from being a legal precedent, the decision of the Bosnian Serb
government, led by Premier Milorad Dodik, is a direct attack on the
living standards of the Republika Srpska population.
The devaluation of the dinar followed immediately after an increase
in the average salary of school employees.
It is only logical that everyone is trying to get rid of the Yugoslav
dinar because it is the currency of a country which is in a very
difficult economic situation, said Didier Fau, High Representative
Carlos Westendorp's deputy, in charge of economy issues.
Didier said he saw the problem of emission of large quantities of
the convertible mark in the Bosnian Serb entity not as a political
but exclusively a financial one.
The BH mark is a convertible currency and Yugo-dinars cannot be
exchanged for it directly, but have to be exchanged for German marks
or US dollars first. However, when one has done such a thing it seems
pointless to exchange these currencies for convertible marks
again.
The Bosnian Serb authorities would try and solve this problem by
introducing the obligatory payment of utilities in convertible
marks, Fau said.
(hina) it jn/rml