Bosnian aid deal cuts both ways

The next steps

Under the terms of the agreement between the IMF and Bosnia, the country's two entities now have until the end of June to re-balance their budgets and submit them to parliament.
The IMF's executive board will approve the standby agreement only once the new budgets have been passed, to prevent back-sliding.
A first instalment could then be made available in July and is expected to be just below €200m for the Federation.
The IMF is an increasingly important player in the Balkans region. The IMF approved a €3bn package with Serbia last week (15 May) and offered membership to Kosovo a week earlier (8 May), the first major international group to do so.
Membership will give Europe's youngest country – which has not been recognised by five EU member states, China and Russia – access to financial support, although its finance minister has said that there were no plans to draw on IMF money immediately.
Neighbouring Macedonia may also have to turn to the IMF, despite the government's reluctance to do so. Two days after the agreement with Bosnia was announced, an IMF mission arrived in Skopje, the capital.
Although the mission's task is not to discuss an agreement, Macedonia may yet be forced to seek assistance in a sharply deteriorating external environment.