The implementation of Poland’s National Recovery Plan (KPO) has been accelerating despite the lack of funds from the European Commission, the president of the Polish Development Fund (PFR) has told PAP.

“Despite the lack of EU funds, the National Recovery Plan is being implemented,” Pawel Borys told PAP on Wednesday, adding that “it is being pre-financed by the PFR.”

“Thirty-six investments have been already submitted… We have so far paid out PLN 4 billion (EUR 889 million), and we plan to pay out a total of PLN 12 billion (EUR 2.7 billion) by the end of the year,” Borys said, adding that investments were, beside exports, the driving force of the economy. 

Poland is due to receive EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans from the EU’s pandemic relief fund under its KPO.

But Brussels has said that before these funds can be unlocked, Poland must meet a series of rule-of-law ‘milestones,’ including full compliance with an EU court ruling requiring Poland to change its rules for disciplining judges.

Referring to the 2024 draft budget, Borys said that it had been prepared in a conservative way, and that it was possible that the budget deficit would be lower than 4 percent of GDP.

The 2024 draft budget envisages a budget deficit of PLN 164.8 billion (EUR 36.6 billion) and a public finance deficit not exceeding 4.5 percent of GDP. 

According to Borys, the growth of budget expenditures to PLN 848 billion (EUR 189 bln) in 2024 has been caused by the necessity “to stimulate the economy.” 

“We have been experiencing an economic slowdown, and our economic surroundings, especially Germany, have been hit by recession,” Borys said, adding that, in this situation, fiscal stimulation was justified.