Poland can't afford to cut back on defence, says FinMin
Poland is in a situation in which it cannot afford to make savings on defence as it is the country's highest priority, Finance and Economy Minister Andrzej Domanski told an interview with the US television channel CNBC.
Domanski is in Washington to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In the interview, aired on Thursday, he was asked whether Poland was not spending too much on defence, taking into account its limited return on investment.
"We're in a position that we simply cannot save on defence. Defence and security is our (...) top priority," Domanski said.
"Of course, we'll lower the deficit in coming years. We presented some additional revenue measures for our budget for 2026 and as a government we're working on some additional tools to lower the deficit," he added, pointing out that Poland was trying to encourage other European nations to increase their defence spending for the benefit of the whole continent.
Domanski expressed satisfaction with Poland having received a EUR 43 billion loan from the EU's SAFE fund aimed to boost European defence and arms sector.
He was also asked whether the government's plans to raise the corporate tax on banks to 30 percent from next year were not going to harm the Polish banking sector.
"Well, the banks' position is very strong in Poland. They have lots of capital and also, I believe that they benefit from really high real interest rates that we have in Poland and, [just] as many European countries introduce some special taxes on the banking sector, we [are making] a similar move as we need some additional funding for our defence spending," Domanski said.
Poland's Finance Minister went on to say that the raised tax will not threaten the sector as the levy only affects profits.
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