The Financial Shield of the Polish Development Fund

After obtaining the consent of the European Commission, The Polish Development Fund plans to implement a financial support programme for micro, small, medium and large enterprises worth 4.5% of GDP. The financing of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises is to take the form of partially non-returnable subsidies. On the other hand, financing of large enterprises will be of an individual nature - it will include debt financing and capital commitment.

The Financial Shield for micro-enterprises (1 to 9 employees):

• subsidies up to a maximum amount of PLN 324,000 for 3 years,
• non-repayable funds up to 75% of the subsidy after 12 months - provided that the business continues and employment levels are maintained,
• the turnover or balance sheet total must not exceed EUR 2 million.

The Financial Shield for small and medium sized enterprises (10 to 250 employees):

• subsidy up to a maximum amount of PLN 3.5 million for 3 years,
• non-refundable funds up to 75% of the subsidy after 12 months - provided that the business continues to operate and employment levels are maintained and a loss on sales is recorded,
• the annual turnover must not exceed 50 million euro or the balance sheet total must not exceed 43 million euro.

The Financial Shield for large enterprises (over 250 employees):

• financing granted on the basis of an individual analysis,
• liquidity financing,
• soft loans,
• equity instruments,
• annual turnover exceeds 50 million euro or balance sheet total exceeds 43 million euro.

The funds obtained by entrepreneurs under the subsidies will be able to be used to cover the costs of business, repayment of loan or for the purposes of settlements with related entities.

One of the conditions for granting the subsidy is to record a decrease in economic turnover of at least 25% in any month after 1 February 2020 compared to the previous month or the same month last year due to the disturbance of the economy as a result of COVID-19. Moreover, the entrepreneur cannot be in bankruptcy, liquidation or restructuring process. Nor can he be in arrears with payments of taxes or social insurance contributions. Nevertheless, he should be a Polish tax resident and operate at least since 31 December 2019.

A detailed schedule and application deadlines should be announced soon. The programme has been notified to the European Commission and awaits approval.