During a ceremony marking the sixth anniversary of the institution, Džombić said that the resources invested through the IRB had not been spent, but rather invested in the domestic economy and that they would be collected and invested again after they were repaid.
He added that the IRB had a specifically important role after the year 2008, when the domestic financial and banking sector encountered trouble in providing the capital for long-term investments on the international market.
“The amount of KM1.3 billion invested through loans, and KM200 million invested through securities definitely played a significant role in maintaining the credit activities of the financial sector and the liquidity of business entities,” said Džombić.
As the years went by, the Bank adapted to the market and proved to be a credible development institution, he said.
Džombić said it was necessary to maintain the banking and financial sector stability, for without it, there could be no activities in the real sector either, which was why the IRB made it possible to fund economic growth through long-term loans.
“We’ve also created some new products which I believe are not well received. By this I mean primarily the support to the capital market by means of debt securities and support by means of projects through the emission and purchase of bonds through the IRB,” said the Prime Minister.
Džombić recalled that there was also misunderstanding and criticism for the IRB project supporting the financial sector building, even though the developed countries implemented the same project.
“These are the ways we tried to influence the capital market stabilisation and provide the material for the Republika Srpska capital market, and at the same time provide the resources for investing in production,” said Džombić.
He said that those activities generated 4,000 jobs and helped retain a few tens of thousands of existing ones during a very difficult period. They also helped maintain the financial sector credit activities.
“The IRB will keep going down the same track and receive full support from the assembly of stockholders, because that is inherent to this,” he said.
Džombić said partner relations with international financial institutions would receive support too, given that two credit lines were successfully invested together with the European Investment Bank, World Bank, and Chinese Development Bank.
Commenting on the investigations into and verdicts rendered to certain former managers of the Bank, Džombić said they those were the cases of negligence at work, not the “participation in a criminal group so with the intention of damaging the IRB.”
He underlined that Kaldera Company of Laktaši, when it purchased bonds, did not receive a gift but a loan with 6-7% interest rates, and that the IRB made KM200,000 on the basis of a discount received from the Balkan Investment Bank, and that it would make another few million marks on the basis of interest rates in the depreciation period.
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