Deputy Director Lejla A. Babovic told private N1 TV that BHRT’s bank account was empty, warning that it could no longer plan its activities without emergency funding. The broadcaster employs around 700 staff and airs news, politics, films, and arts programming nationwide, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
Postwar Bosnia’s two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Croats and Bosniaks, operate separate regional broadcasters funded by licence fees included in electricity bills. Half of those fees are meant to finance BHRT. However, nationalist parties have resisted paying, with the Serb Republic’s broadcaster RTRS withholding transfers since 2017, creating a debt exceeding 104 million Bosnian marka ($63 million). Many Croats also refuse to pay.
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BHRT’s debts, including payments for services and employee benefits, now total around 100 million Bosnian marka. European Union officials, including delegation head Luigi Soreca, have warned that the collapse of BHRT would be a major setback for Bosnia’s EU candidacy.
Journalists and citizens alike stress the broadcaster’s symbolic and unifying role. Najra Krvavac, a Sarajevo-based journalist, called BHRT’s potential closure “a devastating and final proof of a lack of care for an integral part of the country’s identity.”
Despite the financial crisis, some note that BHRT’s influence is declining among younger viewers, who increasingly consume content via streaming platforms. Last November, the broadcaster aired from a makeshift tent studio outside parliament to urge government action, describing it as a “final warning.”
