The draft act on aid for borrowers was referred to public consultations. Its most important elements are credit holidays, an extension of the scope of the Borrowers’ Support Fund operation and also abandoning the use of WIBOR rates when calculating interest rates on loans.

“First, we are introducing four months of credit holidays this and next year. The total benefit for borrowers is approximately PLN 3 billion only on this account. Secondly, we will help borrowers in a difficult financial situation, we will provide statutory assurance by increasing the Borrowers Support Fund to PLN 2 billion from the current PLN 600 million. This is the amount for this year, next PLN 2 billion is allocated for 2023”, said the Prime Minister during the presentation of new solutions.

Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska added that using credit holidays will be free of charge and will extend the duration of the loan. The use of the fund will be simplified by enabling the submission of applications electronically. Banks are also obliged to inform customers about the fund’s operation and the terms of provided assistance.

The head of the Polish government emphasized that the draft act also envisages the introduction of a new mechanism for calculating interest rates on loans from January 1 next year, which will help in repayment at a lower reference rate.

“WIBOR will be lowered to the new reference rate, and if the banking sector does not achieve this, we have a reserve solution. It will be the Polonia rate”, announced the Prime Minister.

The Polonia rate is the average interest rate on over-night deposits provided by banks to each other. It is published daily by the Narodowy Bank Polski. As early as mid-May, GPW Benchmark, the administrator of WIBOR, is to start publishing alternative reference rates for this indicator.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński