The European Investment Bank (EIB) grants EUR 675 million to co-finance public scientific and university based research and two loans totalling EUR 250 million to support indirectly smaller projects of public and private small and medium sized companies in Poland.
Mrs. Marta Gajęcka, EIB Vice-President responsible for lending in Central Europe, including Poland, commented: “EIB funds, provided on favourable terms at a time of difficult market conditions, will facilitate to meet Poland’s commitments to promote investments leading to the establishment of a knowledge-based society in Europe and improve the access of Polish public and private SMEs, that are mostly hit by the current crisis, to medium and long-term funds”.
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education, public scientific institutes, public universities and colleges will be beneficiaries of the EUR 675 million loan focused on the support of the public science system in Poland in 2009 and 2010. EIB funds will finance:
- Tangible capital investments in basic research infrastructure and equipment for public scientific institutes and public universities located all over the country,
- Intangible investments of the Polish State in the research, development and innovation implemented by scientists and academic workers. This includes the proportion of the salary costs of these scientists and academic workers being active in the area of RDI.
The EIB is financing the Polish RDI since 2004 and it has supported this sector with totally EUR 3.13 billion, including the current loan, representing some 23% of the total loans provided by the Bank in Poland since its EU accession.
The Bank provides a EUR 150 million credit line to PKO Bank to finance smaller projects, implemented both by private and public companies, related to the environmental protection, energy savings, infrastructure, including health and education, industry and services or tourism.
A credit line of EUR 100 million is being granted to BRE Bank S.A.. It will finance smaller and medium-sized projects in the areas of industry and services in Poland, and potentially in other EU Member States. The current loan is a continuation of the successful cooperation between the EIB and BRE Bank to which the EIB has previously provided several intermediated loans totalling some EUR 140 million supporting smaller investments by public and private companies.
Both loans, to PKO and BRE Banks, represent EIB intermediated loans of a new generation when the Bank is simplifying its procedures and broadening the scope of its financing by also covering intangible types of investment. In addition, it is increasing transparency by working towards a more effective transfer of the advantage of EIB funds to the final beneficiaries.
Background:
The mission of the EIB, the European Union’s long-term financing institution, is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States by financing sound investment.
Since 1990, the EIB’s lending in Poland reached EUR 21 billion, including the current loans. Within the recent years the EIB lending in the country has a strong increasing tendency: out of this amount, signed loan contacts in Poland reached 13.7 since the country’s accession into the EU in 2004. Loans signed in 2009 in Poland amount to EUR 2.7 billion.