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New support for rural areas in Poland
EUR 5 million loan for BZ WBK Leasing
The EBRD is providing a €5 million loan to BZ WBK Leasing S.A. to support the development of rural areas in Poland. The loan comes under the EU/EBRD Rural Finance Facility which is intended to bridge the gap in finance in rural areas in central and eastern Europe. The EBRD’s finance will be complemented by a performance fee of €450,000 from the European Union.
BZ WBK Leasing is a leading Polish leasing provider focusing on SME and micro leasing. The company is presently expanding its operations into the rural regions of Poland and the EBRD’s loan will support this move as many entrepreneurs in rural areas in Poland are still lacking access to finance.
The loan builds on a first €15 million loan by the EBRD to BZ WBK Leasing two years ago under the EU/EBRD SME Facility. The new loan will be used to extend sub-leases to small and medium sized and micro enterprises in rural areas.
Malgorzata Kolakowska, EBRD Director for Poland, said the new project with BZ WBK Leasing will demonstrate that SMEs in the agricultural and rural sector can be an attractive customer segment. It is thus expected to lead to increased competition in a so far underdeveloped segment of rural finance in Poland.
The EU/EBRD Rural Finance Facility is a sub-project under the EU/EBRD SME Facility which was launched in 1999 under the Phare Programme - the main channel for the EU's financial and technical cooperation with the EU accession countries - with the EBRD. The Bank is making available €1.1 billion for the facility, of which €895 million has been committed to signed projects to date. The EC has been contributing €156.75 million in grant financing and for technical assistance since the launch of the programme in 1999.
For further information about the Phare programme see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/pas/phare/index.htm
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