SARAJEVO, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) state-level authorities have agreed on how to distribute 330 million euros (371 million U.S. dollars) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) more than a month ago to fight coronavirus pandemic and cushion its impacts, the state-owned news agency FENA reported on Wednesday.

The Central Bank (CB) of BiH has received the decision of the Council of Ministers of BiH and immediately distributed the loan to the two entities of BiH, the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of BiH (FBiH), as well as to the Brcko District (BD) in northeast BiH, CB Governor Senad Softic said on Wednesday.

The RS received 37.5 percent of the loan, the FBiH received 61.5 percent and 1 percent went to the BD. This distribution ratio was agreed by the delegation of EU in BiH in early April.

The country's economy has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, especially in the tourism sector which directly accounts for 2.3 percent of the GDP. According to the official statistics of BiH, the value-added tax (VAT) revenue in BiH dropped by more than 10 percent in the first five months of 2020, compared with the same period last year.

So far, BiH has reported 2,551 COVID-19 cases and 157 deaths. Enditem

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