Poland's development bank BGK launches PLN 2.8 bln financial instrument for digitisation
Poland's state development bank BGK, in cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MC), has launched a financial instrument worth PLN 2.8 billion (EUR 660.5 mln) from the EU funds under the national recovery plan KPO for the digitisation of enterprises, local governments and universities, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and minister of digital affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski and BGK's deputy head Marta Postula jointly announced at a conference.
"This is an important day for Polish digitisation and the development of digital cosmography, the digital industry 4.0. (...) For the digital transformation to take place, to be satisfying, to be able to use the latest technological solutions, but also to attract the best specialists, it must be well financed," Gawkowski said.
"Together (...) with BGK, we are announcing a call for projects that opens new doors for Polish digitisation. This is over EUR 650 million in financial instruments that will be used for digitisation in Polish business, administration, local government and science," he added.
He added that companies will benefit from investments in cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and databases, among other things, and that the programme itself is the largest in Polish history aimed at the digitisation of administration.
"Public administration will be able to use new services, to have new equipment, to transform. And the third very important thing - science, development, research. (...) Science is one of the key elements and challenges today, which should also be well funded," Gawkowski pointed out.
As stated in the presentation, the minimum loan amount under the instrument is PLN 5 million (EUR 1.2 mln); the loan period for loans with de minimis aid is 96 months, and without it, 240 months.
In addition, the interest rate for local governments and universities will be 0 percent, and for entrepreneurs benefiting from de minimis aid and natural monopolies, it will be 0.5 percent.
"This is a new instrument with a wide scope (...). Therefore, in addition to the fact that applications can already be submitted today and our branches are ready for this throughout the country, we will be conducting a very broad information campaign, because the ministry (...) wants this money to reach those interested, as this is indeed the largest project of its kind," said BGK's deputy head Marta Postula.
"The agreements must be concluded by August 31, 2026, but (...) the implementation period is much longer, (...) depending on the group, it is either the end of December 2028 or the end of December 2035," she added.
Applications can be submitted until the full exhaustion of available funds.
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