Bh. the diaspora that lives all over Europe and the world sends more and more money to Bosnia and Herzegovina every year, and according to economists, they largely maintain the economy and domestic consumption in this way.
What do the new data of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina show?
The trend of increasing money inflow continued in the first quarter of this year, when total transfers from abroad amounted to 1.326 billion marks, of which 956.6 million marks were related to remittances.
This is shown by the data of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which were submitted to “Nezavisne novine”.
They confirm the growth of remittances, but also of other current transfers, which includes social benefits.
Namely, according to their data, in the first three months of this year, about 25 million marks more money arrived through personal transfers, that is, remittances from abroad, because in the first quarter of last year that amount was 931.39 million KM.
When it comes to other current transfers, in the first quarter of this year they amounted to 370 million, of which 339.54 million refers to social benefits, while from January to March last year, other current transfers were 314.71 million KM, of which 287.49 million were social benefits.
Why are remittances from the diaspora important for the BiH economy?
Igor Gavran, economist, in an interview with “Nezavisne novine” points out that this is a common picture of the inflow of money from abroad from remittances, which far exceeds the inflow based on foreign investments, and confirms that a large part of the diaspora keeps our economy alive and maintains domestic consumption above the level that corresponds to the real standard of living.
“It is obviously easier for local authorities to ensure an inflow of money from outside by encouraging citizens to emigrate, after which they send money to their families, than to improve the business environment and encourage investments or the return of evicted citizens,” says Gavran.
He adds that it is important to note that the actual amount of inflows on this basis is much higher, because significant funds are transferred beyond formal cash flows.
How do citizens see the increasing dependence on money from abroad?
Snežana Šešlija, president of the Association of Citizens “Tolerance against Diversity” (ToPeeR) from Doboj, in an interview for “Independent newspaper” points out that this number seems small to her considering the experience from her environment which confirms that every other family receives at least one remittance from abroad per month.
“I think we have really reached the stage we talked about four or five years ago, that we will experience being supported by friends and family who do not live in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she says, stating that many families receive more than one remittance every month.
