SAA EXPECTED TO LOWER PRICES IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (May 20,2008) - Kemal Causevic, Director of the Bosnian Tax Administration, thinks that signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Bosnia and the EU (expected in mid June) would cause significant losses on Bosnia’s single account (Bosnia now collects 459 million Bosnian Marks from taxes on imported EU goods), but possibly also price reductions.

The Bosnian Tax Administration has been preparing extensively for the SAA, since the bulk of it refers to free trade between Bosnia and the EU. If the SAA is signed on June 16, Bosnia will cut tariff rates on certain products from August 1. For a number of industrial products, they will be cut in half in the initial stage (plaster, gas, paints, cellulose, wood, agricultural machinery, tools, etc.). For oil, rubber leather products, paper, clothes, footwear, cement, brick, phones, and so on, import tariffs will be cut to 75 per cent.
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