The difficult economic situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina caused by the coronavirus pandemic will soon take on a new dimension. Namely, in trying to save the country’s economy and jobs, we forget that we will soon feel the first major effect of the crisis in Europe.
There is no doubt that thousands of our temporary citizens abroad will receive layoffs or have already been fired. There will not be a small number of those who will therefore return to their homeland and report to the unemployment bureaus, and this will be an additional burden for the country, writes eKapija business portal.
“There are those who have savings, but it is easy to spend if it is not earned, and for that long there will be no opportunity,” says academic Muris Cicic, an economic expert. The share of the diaspora in the gross domestic product was large, even more than 10 percent.
The Diaspora injected 3 billion BAM annually through remittances in BiH.
A considerable amount also came from informal channels. So their importance to BiH and its economy is enormous. The big question now is how much money BiH will receive this year.
No doubt, much, much less. The Diaspora had a great influence on the economic flows in BiH, buying real estate, apartments, houses, land, generously assisting families, establishing small and medium-sized enterprises, spending a lot of money during the summer tourist season…
“Unfortunately, this year is unlikely to be any of that,” Cicic points out.