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New support for rural areas in Poland
€7 million loan for BZ WBK Finanse & Leasing
The EBRD is providing a €7 million loan to BZ WBK Finanse & Leasing 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 €630,000 from the European Commission.
BZ WBK Finanse & Leasing is a sister company of the leading Polish leasing
provider BZ WBK Leasing which focuses 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
three years ago under the EU/EBRD SME Facility and a €5 million loan under the
Rural Finance Facility in December 2005. The new loan will be used to extend
sub-leases to small and medium sized and micro enterprises in rural areas.
Jonathan Woollet, Director for Non-Bank Financial Institutions at the EBRD,
said the project with BZ WBK Finanse & Leasing will extend finance to
agricultural and rural SMEs, which still only have limited access to funds.
The loan is expected to lead to increased competition in a so far
underdeveloped segment of rural finance in Poland.
The EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility, a joint programme of the European Commission
and the EBRD, supports the development and growth of entrepreneurs by
facilitating their access to finance. Under this regional project covering 11
countries, the Bank will make available funding of €1.1 billion, of which
€1,041.5 million has been committed to signed projects to date.
The EC has contributed €157 million in grant financing and technical
assistance since the launch of the EU/EBRD SME Finance Facility in 1999. The
Phare programme is the main channel for the EU’s financial and technical
cooperation with accession countries. For further information, see:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement.
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