The Government of the Republic of Srpska decided today during its 25th session that all primary and secondary school students in Republic of Srpska will receive one-time financial assistance from the Budget of the Republic of Srpska for 2026.

Primary school pupils will get one-time financial assistance in the amount of BAM 100 and secondary school pupils will get the amount of BAM 150 on the same grounds.

The decision is justified by the need for additional measures aimed at improving the financial situation of students and parents.

Namely, the beginning of the school year for every family represents an important moment in life, but is also a time of significant additional costs – from purchasing school supplies, clothing, to transportation costs, nutrition and other needs of children. Therefore, any measure that reduces the financial burden on the family is significant, especially for families with many children and families that are exposed to greater financial challenges.

Free textbooks, investments in school infrastructure, expanding the capacities of daily care in schools, subsidies for this purpose, increasing the salaries of teachers and financial support for students for the beginning of the school year make up a broader system of measures of the Government of Republic of Srpska. Such an approach also has a stronger demographic dimension.

The importance of such measures is also that they contribute to creating conditions in which every child can start the school year on equal footing.

The aforementioned measure applies to a total of 82,000 primary school students and 35,000 secondary school students. The implementation of this decision requires funds in the amount of BAM 13,450,000.00.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska also passed a Decision to approve funds for the payment of one-time financial assistance to full-time university students in the Republic of  Srpska.

The payment of one-time financial assistance, in the amount of 150 BAM per student, is approved for full-time students of the first, second and third cycle of studies, citizens of the Republic of Srpska/BiH, who study at higher education institutions in the Republic of Srpska. The funds will be disbursed from the 2026 Budget of the Republic of Srpska.

The Decision on the payment of one-time financial assistance to students is intended to  improve the financial situation of students.

The total number of students to whom this measure applies is around 30,000. The implementation of this decision requires funds in the amount of BAM 4,500,000.00.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska approved the Information on the initiative of the Independent Trade Union of Workers of Radio Television of the Republic of Srpska on increasing the personal income of employees of Radio Television of the Republic of Srpska.

The Government has agreed to provide necessary financial resources to increase the basic salary of employees of Radio Television of the Republic of Srpska by 10% effective from the salary for the month of September 2026.

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the General Secretariat of the Government are responsible for providing the necessary financial resources.

The Government accepted the Information on implementation of the Public Call for allocation of investment incentives in 2026, in total amount of BAM 23 million KM.

333 business entities applied for the Public Call for allocation of investment incentives in 2026, out of which 273 business entities met the conditions of the public call, while 60 business entities did not meet the conditions.

The value of recognized investments of business entities that met the conditions amount to a record 109 million. Business entities that have exercised the right to incentives employ a total of 18,834 workers.

This is the largest amount of supported investment projects so far, and it is important to emphasize that this year 19 business entities had investments exceeding one million BAM.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska adopted the Analysis of the Burden of the Economy and the Population with Tax and Non-Tax Contributions in 2025, which was prepared by the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Srpska. In addition to the analysis of collected revenues from tax and non-tax contributions, this document also analyzed the losses of tax revenues in the tax system of the Republic of Srpska.

The Government of the Republika Srpska has so far given up significant revenues for the benefit of the economy and the population through various types of tax exemptions in income tax and profit tax.

According to these analyses, the total loss of tax revenues due to tax exemptions in 2025 amounted to approximately BAM 351.5 million and is 10.8 million or 3.2% higher than in 2024. Of this amount, 286 million refers to the loss of tax revenues from income tax, while 65.5 million refers to the loss of tax revenues from profit tax.

In addition to the above, in the previous period, the Government of the Republic of Srpska waived revenues from non-tax contributions on various grounds for approximately 33 million BAM annually.

At today's session, the Government of the Republika Srpska reviewed the Information on the request of the Municipality of Čelinac for financing the project of construction of a city square with a memorial and a park in this municipality. The Government has tasked the Ministry of Finance to provide 1,000,000 as public investment, in accordance with the possibilities in the Budget for the first phase of the project to build a city square with a memorial and a park in the municipality of Čelinac.

The Government passed the Conclusion on the donation of flour, and tasked the Ministry of Trade and Tourism to provide 500,000 kilograms of flour from the stocks of mercantile wheat purchased in the intervention procurement procedure, for the needs of the Red Cross of the Republic of Srpska, in order to meet the needs of the local population of the Republic of Srpska who are in a state of social need.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska previously distributed a donation of 500,000 kilograms of flour to public kitchens in the Republic of Srpska between March and May 2026.

These activities represent a continuation of the continuous support that has been implemented since 2022.

The Government adopted a Regulation on the Conditions and Criteria for Allocation of Dedicated Funds for the Development of Tourism.

The Regulation prescribes the conditions for allocation of funds, the allocation procedure and the method of using the funds, i.e. the method of controlling the expenditure of funds allocated to stimulate tourism in the Republic of Srpska.

As stated in the Regulation, designated funds are used exclusively for the purpose of directing and encouraging the development of tourism in Republic of Srpska, as a form of support that regulates or facilitates business in tourism and other tourism-related activities, such as catering, service activities, cultural, sports and other related activities, which can be valorized in terms of tourism in accordance with positive legal regulations and valid planning documents in the field of tourism.

The Government accepted the Information on the need to implement a project for prevention and early detection of drug abuse among the school children in the Republic of Srpska.

The Government has tasked the Public Health Institution Institute of the Republic of Srpska in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Commission for the Suppression of Drug Abuse and other competent institutions, to implement a project for the prevention and early detection of drug abuse, which includes testing school areas, wastewater analysis, education of teaching and professional staff and parents, and preventive and promotional activities, with prior obtaining the necessary consents and opinions of the competent institutions.

The Government of the Republic of Srpska adopted a Decision on proclamation of the Veliki Stolac Nature Park.

This decision declares the gorge-canyon valley of the Drina River and the Brusnički stream canyon, as well as the habitats of Pančić spruce and other endemic and relict plant species, a protected area in Category V - protected landscapes, as a nature park, under the name of the Nature Park "Veliki Stolac".

The Nature Park "Veliki Stolac" is placed under protection for the purpose of preserving biological, landscape, hydrogeological and geomorphological features, and for use for the purpose of vacation, recreation and health tourism, as it represents a combination of natural and created value.

The Nature Park "Veliki Stolac" is located on the territory of the municipality of Višegrad, with a total area of ​​16,886.33 ha.