Poland’s government on Tuesday unveiled a planned new package worth over PLN 11 billion (USD 2.64 bn, EUR 2.43 bn) to help the economy weather the virus crisis.
The lower house of parliament in the early hours of Thursday approved the package in a 233-183 vote with 37 abstentions, state news agency PAP reported.
The measure now goes to the Senate, the upper house of Poland's parliament, for further debate.
Łukasz Schreiber, a Cabinet minister heading the Government Standing Committee, has told reporters the programme aims to protect jobs and will complement a massive relief and stimulus plan signed into law last month.
Development Minister Jadwiga Emilewicz said earlier this week that companies employing 10 to 49 staff would be allowed to pay 50 percent less in social security contributions under the new measures.
Emilewicz said at the end of last month that Poland’s government was ready to loosen the purse strings to offer relief to the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Poland’s president at the end of last month signed into effect a multibillion relief package aiming to shore up the economy and shield the nation from the impact of an intensifying coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has told reporters that the total value of that anti-crisis package, which also seeks to guarantee the security of the country’s financial system, will come to PLN 212 billion (EUR 47 billion, USD 52 billion), an amount equivalent to around 10 percent of Poland’s GDP.
In a new effort, the Polish prime minister on Wednesday unveiled plans to throw a lifeline of at least PLN 100 billion (USD 24 bn, EUR 22 bn) to businesses hit by the coronavirus epidemic.
Meanwhile, the European Commission announced on Wednesday it had approved a PLN 3.5 billion (around EUR 700 million) Polish loan and guarantee plan aiming to support the economy amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Polish central bank on Wednesday cut interest rates by 50 basis points in the second such move after a coronavirus outbreak hit the country.
A total of 5,341 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 disease in Poland, with 164 deaths from the coronavirus so far, officials said on Thursday morning.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP