Bosnia’s Aluminij smelter signs a repayment deal to ease debt

Aluminij Mostar, Bosnia’s aluminium smelter revealed on Wednesday that they were slowly recovering from their slump after a debt settlement was approved by the regional government with the state-owned power board EPHZHB.

The smelter, which is the only one in the Balkan country as well as a top exporter, was on the rocks for some time narrowly escaping closure several times throughout 2013 and 2014 due to its growing debt burden.

The high electricity charges along with the falling aluminium price had crippled Aluminij like many other smelters across the world. EPHZHB had blocked Aluminij’s bank accounts and threatened to cut power supply in March after debt had accumulated over previous 15 months.

The 44% owner of the smelter, that is, the government of the autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation struck a deal on Tuesday that would allow the smelter to repay the amount of 120.8 million Bosinan marka ($80 million) to EPHZHB over the course of the next 48 years.

Nikica Ljubic, the recently appointed general manager at the end of May said in a statement that the smelter was recovering and once the EPHZHB agreement is signed, they will deal with the debt issues with other creditors.