Basic information
The Ministry of Finance is responsible for establishing and development of the system of official financial export credit support in the form of governmental tied aid credits. It is the Guarantee Department that is responsible for the tasks in field of tied aid.
In Poland official export credit support is provided in the following forms:
- Government export credits, incl. tied aid credits,
- Export credits granted by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, BGK.
- Export credits insurance and guarantees, provided by the Export Credits Insurance Corporation Joint Stock Company (Korporacja Ubezpieczeń Kredytów Eksportowych, KUKE S.A.), supervised by the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology,
- Interest rate support mechanism, administered by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, BGK,
Officially supported export credits in Poland are granted in the conformity with OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits (Arrangement). The Arrangement was initially incorporated into the EU law by Decision of the European Union Council of 4 April 1978. The main purpose of the Consensus is to provide a framework for the orderly, not disturbing competition, use of export credits, so that the exporters compete with one another in quality and price of the product and not through financial terms offered to the importer (fostering a level playing field).
The Arrangement also applies to tied aid and trade-related untied aid.
The Arrangement sets out limitations on terms and conditions that may be officially supported. These are: minimum down payment, maximum repayment term, minimum interest rate, and in particular:
- requirement for the foreign purchaser to make down payment of a minimum 15% of the export contract value,
- repayment term of export credit must be minimum two years but maximum eight-and-a-half years (in case of export to richer Category I countries – depending on per capita GNI) or ten years (in case of export to Category II countries).
The Arrangement in a specific way regulates officially supported export credits for i.e. ships, nuclear power plants, civil aircrafts, renewable energies/climate change mitigation and adaptation/water projects as well as rail infrastructure and coal-fired electricity generation projects. There are also separate rules applicable to tied aid credits.
Przydatne linki
- OECD website on export credits (link opens a new window)
- OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (link opens a new window)
- OECD Council Recommendation on bribery and officially supported export credits (link opens the document in a new window)