Poland: CEB Governor signs loan agreements worth over €130 million to support MSMEs and infrastructure, meets with Warsaw Mayor

Warsaw - The Governor of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Rolf Wenzel, is completing today a visit to Poland, during which he signed a €100 million framework loan agreement with Pekao Leasing and a €34 million framework loan agreement with the Świętokrzyskie Region. During his visit, Governor Wenzel also met with the Mayor of the City of Warsaw.

On 23 October the Governor signed with Marta Wolańska, CEO of Pekao Leasing which is part of Pekao Group, a €100 million loan agreement in order to provide financing for the investment projects of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with a view to contributing to their development. This is the fifth CEB loan to the Pekao Group in the past five years, bringing the total amount lent to the Group to half a billion euros.

“I am pleased with the excellent, ongoing cooperation between the CEB and Pekao Group, a key CEB partner in central Europe, to provide financial support to Polish MSMEs. At a time when unemployment rates remain high in many European countries, it is crucial to channel financing to MSMEs as a means of creating new jobs and preserving existing ones,” said Governor Wenzel.

While in Warsaw, the CEB Governor met with the Mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, in the City Hall. Mayor Trzaskowski and Governor Wenzel exchanged views on current and future cooperation between the CEB and the City of Warsaw, including a recently approved project to support municipal investments in health and culture. On 24 October, Governor Wenzel visited the Świętokrzyskie Region in Central-Eastern Poland, where he signed in Kielce a loan agreement for € 34 million with Andrzej Bętkowski, Świętokrzyskie Marshal. The funds will support the Region’s Development Strategy covering the period until 2023, which comprises a series of investments vital for the development of the Region. These include the renovation of public transport, enhancing the business attractiveness of the Region, improving energy efficiency in public buildings, and upgrading health infrastructure.

The CEB loan will lead to enhanced mobility within Świętokrzyskie and to improved connectivity with surrounding regions, which, in turn, is expected to have a positive effect on the local population’s access to public services and the job market. Through the modernisation of health infrastructure, the funds will also provide Świętokrzyskie inhabitants with better quality health facilities and care, while the energy efficiency improvements made to health infrastructure, combined with the modernisation of the road network, are expected to have a positive impact on the environment. Overall, the benefits will be significant for the wider region and its population of 1.2 million.

Governor Wenzel said: “Continuing the fruitful cooperation between the CEB and Poland, the loan agreement signed today with Świętokrzyskie will support regional investments in areas that are key for social development, such as transport and health infrastructure. The CEB has been stepping up its cooperation with cities and regions across Europe as a way of targeting areas and communities where the support of the Bank is needed in a range of sectors.”

During his visit to Poland, the Governor also attended the 9th National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski) Annual Flagship Conference on the Future of the European Economy in Warsaw. The theme of the conference this year was “Monetary Policies in the New European Setting”.