BHRT the national broadcaster of Bosnia & Herzegovina is to suspend broadcasts on the 30th of June due to large debts.

The decision to suspend broadcasts and the production of programming was taken today by the Board of Directors at BHRT. The organisation as a whole has a debt of 25 million Bosnian Marks (12.8 million Euros), this debt is split between Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Radio Televizija Republike Srpske.

Financial issues at the Bosnian broadcaster have been long running and not helped by an ending to the collection of a television fee from the public. BHRT over the past months has been calling on the Bosnian Government to make necessary changes to ensure that the broadcaster was not forced to close. At the end of last week it was reported that BHRT was to be removed from the European Broadcasting Union due to large debts it owed the organisation.

Bosnia & Herzegovina will now be the only country in Europe that does not have a functioning public broadcaster.

Source: BHRT