World Bank and the Ministry of Finance sign €1 Billion second Policy Loan for Poland
Press Release No:2010/005/ECA
Contacts: Warsaw – Anna Kowalczyk +48 605 282 998
Washington – Michael Jones, (202) 473 – 2588
Warsaw, July 2, 2009—The World Bank and the Ministry of Finance of Poland today signed the second Programmatic Policy Loan (PL2) of 1 billion Euro, which was approved by the World Bank’s Board on the June, 30 2009. The loan, second in the series, will continue to support reforms in public finance management, the business environment, enhancing labor market efficiency and structural improvements to the finance and provision of health, education and social protection services.
“This is the second policy loan in a program of three lending operations totaling approximately 3 billion Euro, supporting a reform program aimed at accelerating Poland’s convergence with average EU living standards,” said Thomas Laursen, World Bank Country Manager for Poland and the Baltic Countries. “This loan, as the whole lending program, is also a sign of the Bank’s recognition of Poland’s good performance and relatively strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Poland has made impressive progress towards creating a modern, market-based economy and we hope that our lending program can further support the government’s reforms. The Bank’s Board has just approved The Country Partnership Strategy for Poland 2009-2013 which, apart from lending operations, also introduces
fee- based knowledge services offered not only to the central government, but also to the subnational level. We believe that our program, complementing the efforts of other partners will add value to the governments’ own development program.”
The PL2 continues the main goals of the first loan, disbursed in December 2008, and focuses on:
- support to the structural reforms that will ensure fiscal consolidation over the medium term;
- protection of priority investment programs and financing of the up-front fiscal costs of structural reforms critical to meeting Poland’s goals of convergence with the rest of the EU;
- mitigation of the social cost of the economic crisis
“The first loan in the program (PL1) supported policy actions to strengthen public finance management, increase participation in the labor market, and improve the environment for doing business. The second loan will support the governments’ ongoing reform plans, including in the social sectors to further improve the quality of service delivery,” said Jacek Dominik, Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance. “This loan is the result of our continued excellent partnership with The World Bank that benefits both sides through sharing of knowledge and experience.”
For more information about the Ministry of Finance of Poland, please visit: www.mofnet.gov.pl
For more information about the World Bank in Poland, please visit: www.worldbank.org.pl
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