Low interest rates, no fees and commissions and any additional costs, long repayment period, flexible goals for which you can spend money – these are the advantages of EU loans.
This is almost PLN 7 billion and it can become a permanent lever of Polish business, especially the small, beginner and innovative one.
EU loans are to help in the development of any company: from start-up to a large enterprise. Thanks to them, you can implement an innovative idea, investments, but also finance current operations, because loans can be allocated to working capital. The goals for which you can devote money are very flexible, and the recipient of the funds is basically any company having an idea for the development. Also the one who got into trouble and wants to get out of it.
It has been known for a long time that one of the most important reasons for the development of Polish enterprises is the lack of capital. Equity capital is miserable, because companies are generally young and have not accumulated yet. It is difficult for foreign capital, because lending money to young companies is a very high risk for the bank or investors. Even now, at very low interest rates, the loan for a small enterprise is simply too expensive. It is here that EU loans come to the rescue.
For repayable instruments in the years 2014-2020 approximately PLN 7 billion was allocated in Regional Operational Programs. It is mainly support consisting in granting loans for micro, small and medium entrepreneurs for development, implementation of new technologies, for an innovative approach to business implementation, also for supporting a company in a difficult period.
The loans were distributed by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, which manages European programs and distributes EU funds on a national and regional scale. The bank did it in the wake of Regional Regional Operational Programs created by local governments, which contain development strategies for individual regions. They were the ones deciding where to get the money and where it is needed most.
Support is diverse in different voivodships, because voivodeship self-governments have set their development strategies and priorities. We implement these strategies. Generally, it can be said that they are loans up to one million zlotys, even for entities that do not have creditworthiness in commercial banks.
The current EU budget for 2014-2020 attaches greater importance to loans, or repayable instruments, and will continue to do so in the future. Borrowed money, as repayment occurs, return to the pool and can be used again. As a result, they can be used to provide capital to more enterprises than subsidies once granted. However, this is not a complete novelty. Entrepreneurs could use EU loans in the previous perspective and many of them were convinced that it is worth it. At the time, only in Mazovia 1,555 companies used them.
