2004-03-03 06:06 Źródło: Warsaw Business Journal
Government readies for EU fund absorption
The government envisages that its initial plans to launch a commercial bank-based fund to aid in the co-financing of European Union development projects will enable it to better ensure that EU funds are absorbed without dipping further into its already overstretched budget deficit.
Last week, the government gave the green light to a draft bill which now awaits a reading by parliament.
"In our plans, this was the optimal solution," says Bartosz Drabikowski, director of the Financial Institutions Department at the Ministry of Finance.
Though the bill was more or less the work of the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social Policy, he points out that the Ministry of Finance pitched in on some of the legal aspects regarding the country's commercial banks that would participate in the fund's lending procedures.
Drabikowski says that initially the EU co-investment, or guarantee, fund would be backed by cash raised by decreasing the level of obligatory reserves at the central bank.
The country's commercial banks are required to maintain 3.5 percent of their deposits with the central bank to protect against financial disaster.
It is estimated that the fund could amass some zł.900 million (184.4 million), which would then allow it to guarantee loans of up to zł.3 billion (614.8 million).
Should the fund come into effect as planned it would be a boon for the government, which has come under fire for its less-than-perfect record on EU preparation.
Drabikowski adds that this will also be to the benefit of the country since it would act as a public-private partnership of sorts. On the face of it, the government, which is often seen as hostile to the private sector, would be pursuing an EU-related strategy that is mutually beneficial to both the government and the private sector.
"It's not a classical public-private partnership," he adds. But, he notes, it does have the same intention.
Commercial banks, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social Policy and the National Bank of Poland are all playing roles in the creation and execution of the fund, he says.
Timothy Sifert
Last week, the government gave the green light to a draft bill which now awaits a reading by parliament.
"In our plans, this was the optimal solution," says Bartosz Drabikowski, director of the Financial Institutions Department at the Ministry of Finance.
Though the bill was more or less the work of the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social Policy, he points out that the Ministry of Finance pitched in on some of the legal aspects regarding the country's commercial banks that would participate in the fund's lending procedures.
Drabikowski says that initially the EU co-investment, or guarantee, fund would be backed by cash raised by decreasing the level of obligatory reserves at the central bank.
The country's commercial banks are required to maintain 3.5 percent of their deposits with the central bank to protect against financial disaster.
It is estimated that the fund could amass some zł.900 million (184.4 million), which would then allow it to guarantee loans of up to zł.3 billion (614.8 million).
Should the fund come into effect as planned it would be a boon for the government, which has come under fire for its less-than-perfect record on EU preparation.
Drabikowski adds that this will also be to the benefit of the country since it would act as a public-private partnership of sorts. On the face of it, the government, which is often seen as hostile to the private sector, would be pursuing an EU-related strategy that is mutually beneficial to both the government and the private sector.
"It's not a classical public-private partnership," he adds. But, he notes, it does have the same intention.
Commercial banks, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, Labor and Social Policy and the National Bank of Poland are all playing roles in the creation and execution of the fund, he says.
Timothy Sifert
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