On Monday, February 23, the Republika Srpska will seek new debt for the third time this year through a treasury bill auction. The planned amount of the issue is 60 million KM with a maturity of three months, and the actual amount will be known after the conclusion of the auction at a single equilibrium price.
This is the continuation of the intensive borrowing policy of the RS, because all three borrowings so far were realized only in February. The first auction on February 3, planned for 20 million KM, exceeded expectations and collected 26.5 million KM, while the total interest of investors reached 36.3 million KM. The lowest interest rate was 2.0483%, and the highest was 3.9%, while the single equilibrium interest rate was 3.6118%.
In addition to treasury bills, the Government of the RS reached out for a loan from a private bank in Serbia – “Alta banka” ad Beograd. The loan was approved for 24 months at a fixed interest rate of 5.5% per annum, with an availability period of one month.
The RS budget for 2026 amounts to approximately 7.4 billion KM, while the total planned debt reaches approximately 1.69 billion KM. More than one-fifth of the budget is based on new debts, and about 1.2 billion KM is planned from foreign sources through the issuance of bonds and loans.
Data on debt trends show that the record planned debt in 2026 is not an isolated case, but a continuation of a long-term trend. Debt receipts increased from 636 million KM in 2021 to around 1.69 billion KM in 2026, which represents an increase of approximately 166 percent. At the same time, expenses for debt repayment increased from 689 million KM to about 1.63 billion KM, that is, by more than 136 percent. Graphical representations show that receipts from indebtedness and expenditures for debt repayment almost overlap, especially from 2023.
The growth of VAT revenues and total budget revenues does not follow the pace of debt. Analysts warn that this model enables short-term stability, but at the cost of long-term fiscal sustainability, and future budgets and citizens bear the burden.
“This model maintains a certain level of social peace, but that peace is financed by debt. This is not a development policy, but rather a short-term postponement of the problem,” pointed out politician and economist Jelena Trivić and added: “If this ratio of income and debt continues, we will face weak growth, high pressure on the budget and growing dependence on debt, which is not sustainable in the long term,” she writes. Noise.
